


All for one

by Bl4ckHunter



Series: The Defenders Return [3]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Daredevil (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Defenders (Marvel TV), X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Adventure, Angst, Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Other, Sci-Fi, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-30
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-07-27 06:02:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 30,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20041102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bl4ckHunter/pseuds/Bl4ckHunter
Summary: With the entire universe plunged into chaos, the Avengers and all remaining heroes surviving the Decimation must assemble to undo Thanos's actions and restore balance to the universe, whatever it takes.





	1. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Avengers attempt to stop Thanos but fail as his actions erase half of the life of the universe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note and Disclaimer:
> 
> This is a sequel to The Devil and the Black Sky: Reckoning and the first chapter is more like a teaser and I plan to continue this sometime later in August since Endgame is going to be released on BluRay soon and it's going to be my own spin on the film. Some events will be the same, some will have some creative liberties of mine but I'm not sure I can make such an amazing film even more amazing with my story but wish me luck.
> 
> Until I get the film on BluRay, which will be in few weeks, enjoy the prologue setting up the story. And poor everyone in here.
> 
> I do not own anything in Marvel Cinematic Universe.

_ **Wakanda** _

Wanda approached injured Vision, tending to him before the Mind Stone on his forehead shined and Vision groaned in pain.

"What? What is it?" Wanda asked.

"He's here." Vision said, horrified and Wanda paled.

Steve heard rustling as he called out. "Everyone on my position. We have incoming."

"What the hell?" Natasha wondered as she, Sam, T'Challa, Okoye and Bruce were on guard before a blue portal appeared from which went out Thanos with his Infinity Gauntlet as Wanda stiffened and breathed out in horror, intimidated at seeing the Mad Titan for the first time as Vision was just as frightened.

"Cap. That's him." Bruce said, recognizing Thanos as Steve activated his shield

"Eyes up. Stay sharp." Steve ordered as Thanos neared them. Bruce, in his Hulkbuster armor lunged at Thanos but Thanos used the Space Stone to trap Bruce in the rock behind the Mad Titan.

Steve rushed at Thanos but the alien used the Power Stone to knock Steve away with a wave of his hand.

T'Challa, in his Black Panther suit, lunged at Thanos but Thanos grabbed T'Challa by his throat and slammed him to the ground as T'Challa's suit let out pulse of energy it had absorbed.

Sam flied towards Thanos, firing from his guns but Thanos used the Power Stone to deactivate Sam's wings as Sam fell down.

Vision turned to Wanda, pleading her to destroy the Mind Stone, despite that it would cost his life. "Wanda, it's time."

"No." Wanda protested.

"They can't stop him but we can." Vision pleaded as he held her hand. "Look at me. You have the power to destroy the Stone."

"Don't." Wanda protested.

"You must do it. Wanda, please. We are out of time." Vision insisted.

"I can't." Wanda whispered.

"You can." Vision assured her as he held her hand. "If he gets the Stone, half of the universe will die. It's not fair. It shouldn't be you but it is." Wanda could barely hold back tears, not wanting to be the one who would kill the man she loves. "It's alright. You could never hurt me." Wanda's lips quivered. "I just feel you." Wanda finally did as Vision said, unleashing the psionic energy into the Mind Stone, trying to overload it, despite that it would kill Vision. "I love you…" Vision said as Wanda felt the tears stream down her cheeks.

Thanos managed to subdue and overpower Natasha, Groot and even Steve, despite his enhanced strength as Thanos neared Wanda and Vision. Wanda attempted to slow Thanos down as she fired a psionic beam at Thanos with her other hand, slowing him down.

"It's alright…" Vision whispered as Thanos neared him and Wanda, who sobbed as the Mind Stone shattered and Vision closed his eyes before there was an explosion that knocked Wanda down.

Wanda felt her eyes get wet as Thanos neared her.

"I understand, my child." Thanos said in sympathy, the grief from sacrificing his daughter Gamora to get the Soul Stone still fresh. "Better than anyone."

"You could never…" Wanda sneered, glaring at Thanos hatefully as he fondled her hair.

"Today I've lost more than you could ever know." Thanos said. "But now is not time to mourn. Now… is no time at all." He passed by Wanda and clenched his fist, activating the Time Stone as a green circle glowed around the Gauntlet as he waved his hand and rewound time as Vision reassembled before Wanda destroyed the Mind Stone as Vision was good as new, much to Wanda's horror.

"No!" Wanda screamed before Thanos knocked her away. Thanos grabbed Vision by his throat as the android choked out before Thanos yanked out the Mind Stone from Vision's forehead. Vision lost his color and fell down, dead or deactivated, one couldn't tell with Vision, all that was certain was that he was not among living anymore.

Thanos inserted the Mind Stone into the last slot in his Gauntlet as the energy surged through him before suddenly, lightning knocked him down as Thor threw the Stormbreaker axe at Thanos, despite that Thanos used the full power of his Gauntlet to stop it. The axe cut through the beam from the Gauntlet, striking Thanos in the chest as Thor landed in front of Thanos.

"I told you, you'd die for that." Thor growled and jammed the axe deep into Thanos's chest as Thanos cried out in pain as Thor glared.

"You should have… you… you should have gone for the head." Thanos whispered before he raised his hand with the Gauntlet and snapped his fingers.

"No!" Thor shouted as there was a flash of light and as it faded, the Gauntlet was smoking and charred, burned into Thanos's hand.

"What did you do? What did you do?!" Thor demanded but Thanos clenched his fist before he disappeared in a blue portal as Stormbreaker fell off Thanos's chest and Thor stared in horror.

"Where did he go?" Steve wondered, looking around. "Thor. Where did he go?"

Thor just stared in disbelief, realizing they had lost and imagining half of the people in the whole universe dying.

"Steve…" Bucky said as Steve turned to him to see his best friend turn into dust and Bucky fell down before vanishing as Steve watched in horror and Natasha covered her mouth, not believing that her lover died just like that.

M'Baku stared in horror to see his army disappear into dust.

T'Challa neared Okoye, helping her get up before she watched T'Challa fade away into dust, much to her horror.

Rocket stared in despair as Groot disappeared as well.

Elsewhere, Wanda, still mourning Vision, turned into dust too, blown away by the wind.

Rhodey was walking down the forest, searching for Sam, who had disappeared too, affected by the Snap. "Sam? Sam, where are you at?"

* * *

_ **Titan** _

Tony, Peter, Strange, Quill, Mantis, Nebula and Drax felt something grim in the air before Mantis and Drax turned into dust and faded away.

"Quill…" Drax said, horrified before he and Mantis faded into dust, much to Quill's horror.

"Steady, Quill." Tony tried to assure Quill but a moment later, Quill vanished too.

"Tony." Strange said as Tony turned to him. "There was no other way." Strange then turned into dust too as Tony wondered why did this have to happen for them to beat Thanos before…

"Mr. Stark?" Peter said, horrified, feeling uneasy. "I don't feel so good."

"It'll be alright." Tony tried to assure his protégé.

"I don't know what's happening." Peter limped towards Tony, hugging him. "I don't wanna go. I don't wanna go, please, I don't wanna go, I don't wanna go…" Tony tried to assure Peter, who fell down. "I'm sorry…"

Peter then faded away into dust too as Tony stared in horror, realizing he had failed as he sat down in defeat.

"He did it…" Nebula said.

* * *

_ **The Lighthouse** _

"Everyone's going to be happy to see you." Simmons assured Fitz after she, Daisy, Piper and Enoch retrieved him from outer space.

"I still can't believe we have a grandson…" Fitz whispered before they heard screams.

"What the hell?" Daisy rushed into the bunker to see some of her colleagues turn into dust.

"Elena? Elena!" Mack screamed as he watched the love of his life fade into dust.

"Deke…" Simmons whispered.

"What's going on?" Deke said before he faded into dust, much to Fitz's and Simmons's horror.

* * *

_ **Tahiti** _

Coulson was spending his last days on the beach with May before, much to his shock, he turned his head to see May gone, only dust left after her.

* * *

_ **San Francisco** _

"Guys? Get me out of here! Guys!" Scott Lang panicked, trying to call out for help as he was trapped in the Quantum Realm with the Quantum machine, not knowing that Hank, Janet and Hope had turned into dust.

* * *

_ **K'un-Tzu** _

Davos was training with monks from the Order of the Crane Mother, trying to find new purpose after making amends with Danny before, much to his surprise, some of the monks were turning into dust, making him wonder what happened.

* * *

_ **Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters** _

"Jean! Scott!" Logan and Storm rushed down the corridor as the students and teachers were disappearing.

Charles Xavier screamed in pain, holding his head as Logan saw two piles of dust in front of him. "Professor, where are Jean and Scott?" Storm demanded.

"Here…" Xavier said, pointing at the two piles of dust in front of him.

"Professor, what the hell is going on?" Logan demanded.

* * *

_ **Missouri** _

Barney Barton was visiting his brother Clint, only to see him running around and shouting. "Laura! Lila! Cooper!"

"Clint, what's going on?" Barney demanded.

"I don't know. Laura and the kids, one moment I was training archery with Lila and Laura called us for lunch and then they were all gone." Clint said.

* * *

_ **New York** _

Frank Castle watched in surprise to see people in the bar turn into dust as they talked about the recent invasion of aliens.

"Who the fuck…"

* * *

Foggy was about to pick up his pen and write on a napkin when suddenly…

"Foggy." Karen looked at him in horror. "Your hand."

"What?" Foggy asked as suddenly, his hand was turning into dust. "What the-"

Suddenly, he faded away into dust as Karen screamed. "Foggy!"

"Karen, what happened? I can't hear his heartbeat!" Matt said.

"I don't know, one moment he…"

Suddenly, screams sounded off around them as people were turning into dust, much to their horror.

Matt groaned as smashing, alarms and screams overloaded his hearing. They all went out to see cars and choppers crash, people screaming and ranting as some of them were turning into dust, blown away by the wind.

"Oh, my God…" Colleen said.

"Something's wrong." Danny said as they all turned to him to see his hands turn into dust.

"Danny…" Colleen trailed off before Danny and Luke suddenly turned into dust too, blown away by the wind. "Danny!"

"Luke!" Jessica exclaimed as Luke vanished too.

Karen covered her mouth, while Matt's hearing was overwhelmed by screams and explosions as helicopters and cars crashed and people started to disappear and they all wondered whether this was a nightmare.

"Matt… what the hell is going on?" Karen whispered, horrified.

* * *

Maria Hill had turned into dust too as Nick Fury entered his car and pulled out an old pager and pressed the button before, much to his surprise, he was turning into dust too. "Oh, no. Motherf…"

Fury vanished into dust as the pager fell down before it started to bleep and showed a symbol of a star and behind it two stripes, red and blue.

* * *

_ **Elsewhere** _

On a distant planet, Thanos sat down and as he promised to Doctor Strange, he watched the sunrise, celebrating his victory, expecting the universe to be grateful.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, the X-Men are now part of this universe too but to avoid confusion, Peter Maximoff, the X-Men film universe version of Quicksilver does not exist here.
> 
> Please review and let me know if you have been enjoying this and want for me to continue.
> 
> With regards
> 
> Bl4ckHunter


	2. After the Snap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the Decimation, everyone meets up to plan their next step.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything in Marvel Cinematic Universe.

_ **England** _

"Bobbi, what the hell just happened?" Lance Hunter wondered he and his ex-wife and now reconciled lover, Bobbi Morse, walked down the streets after they saw people turn into dust.

"I don't know, Hunter." Bobbi said, horrified, wondering what happened to all the people and whether everyone else across the globe was turned into dust too. "And I can't call out to Fury or anyone else. I think we need to head back to Coulson. Back to the United States, ASAP."

* * *

_ **Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters** _

"Wait, half of the people on the entire planet is dead?" Logan demanded after Xavier used Cerebro.

"In the entire universe." Xavier corrected. "This… Thanos… he's unlike any being we've ever faced. He's… pure death."

"Well, where is he now, Charles? There has to be a way to reverse what happened." Storm demanded.

"I don't know. I've searched the entire Earth. All I know is that he's not here anymore." Xavier said. "Logan. I am not certain we can do this on our own. You need to find the Avengers."

* * *

_ **New York** _

For the past few days, still in shock from what happened, Matt, Colleen, Jessica and Karen tried to understand how did their friends disappear as they investigated before they saw a news report about an alien invasion in Wakanda.

"You think it has something to do with those bozos who showed up in Manhattan and Stark and Spider-Man tried to stop them?" Jessica asked.

"If so, we need to find Stark and the Avengers." Matt nodded.

"Jess…" A familiar female voice said as Jessica turned around, bitter at the blonde woman, who showed up. "Jessica, I-"

"Trish." Jessica paused, seeing how much in shock her foster sister was and it didn't take long to tell why. "I-"

"What… what just happened?" Trish asked. "I went looking for one of the creeps but before I could get some evidence…"

"He turned into dust?" Jessica drawled and Trish nodded.

"They're all gone… what just happened?" Trish asked, horrified.

"I… I don't know." Jessica admitted.

"We need to find the Avengers. They might be the only ones, who can help." Colleen suggested.

"Are you sure they can help?" Elektra inquired.

"I'm not sure. But it's our best shot." Colleen admitted before noticing a familiar blonde woman walking down the street. "Hey, look."

"Is that…" Jessica asked as they saw Black Widow pick up some kind of a pager.

"Hey!" Matt called out.

"Matt." Natasha said as she hugged Matt, who hugged her back. "I thought you were dead."

"I thought you were dead too." Matt said, relieved.

"Wait, you know Black Widow?" Jessica demanded.

"We've met in San Francisco." Matt nodded.

"I was there on an undercover mission, while Matt was helping a client, who I was supposed to protect because he was framed. Who was that again?" Natasha said.

"Miller." Matt nodded. "I made sure he would avoid prison. I remember that you were… very grateful."

"Good old times." Natasha teased and Elektra narrowed her eyes, clearing her throat. "Oh." Natasha said, recognizing her. "Isn't that your ex from college?"

"It's… a long story. I guess you and I have a lot of catching up to do." Matt said.

"Guess so." Natasha nodded.

* * *

Davos wandered around the world, wondering what happened and how did half of the monks of K'un-Tzu and people across the globe turn into dust as he decided to confront Danny and the Defenders in search for answers.

* * *

_ **Outer space** _

Tony and Nebula were onboard Benatar, the spaceship of the Guardians of the Galaxy, trying to kill some time as they were apparently stranded and tired, Tony sat down, recording a message.

"Hey, Miss Potts. Pep." Tony leaned back and sighed. "If you find this recording, don't post it on social media. It's gonna be a real tearjerker. I don't know if you're ever gonna see these. I don't know if you're still…" He breathed out, hoping that the love of his life did not turn into dust as well. "Oh, God, I hope so."

Tony and Nebula attempted to stay awake as they were losing oxygen in the ship as they both were passing out before Tony saw bright light and as he got a closer look, he was sure he saw a blonde woman in red and blue armor flying in front of him.

* * *

** _New Avengers Facility_ **

Steve had shaved his beard in the bathroom as he felt rumbling as the mirrors trembled.

* * *

"You guys seeing that?" Jessica asked as Colleen drove towards New Avengers facility and save for Matt, they saw a woman who shined in bright light, carrying a spaceship, landing in the garden as Natasha drove them towards the facility.

* * *

Carol Danvers landed the Benatar on the ground as Tony, carried by Nebula and delirious due to the lack of oxygen, went out, panting.

"I couldn't stop him." Tony said as he leaned onto Steve's shoulder.

"Neither could I." Steve nodded.

"Hang on." Tony said, causing for him and Steve to stop. "I lost the kid." Steve looked at Tony in sympathy.

"Tony, we lost." Steve corrected and Tony felt fearful, hoping that Pepper did not turn into dust too.

"Is…" Tony stopped as Pepper rushed towards him. "Oh, good."

"Oh, my God. Oh, my God!" Pepper sobbed, hugging Tony and kissing him on his cheek as Rocket sat next to Nebula on the stairwell of Benatar, both of them mourning their friends.

Davos then approached Colleen as the surviving Defenders stared at him. "Davos..."

"They're gone. Half of them. Where's Danny?" Davos asked, horrified and looking for answers.

Then, Steve widened his eyes to see a man he never expected to see again. "Hey, Cap. I see you haven't aged a day."

"Logan…" Steve said, not believing his own eyes. "I wasn't sure you were alive."

* * *

_ **The Lighthouse** _

"Apparently, half of the population has been wiped out." Mack said as he reached out to Coulson. "We're not certain about what happened but what we do know is that shortly before that, a massive spike of energy was detected in Wakanda, where were the Avengers."

"Good. It's best if you went there to investigate." Coulson nodded. "I'll meet you halfway."

"Wait, sir, you want to face them?" Simmons asked, not sure if that would end well.

"I have to. I owe them that much." Coulson said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what do you guys think?
> 
> Please review and let me know if you have been enjoying this.


	3. Goodbye, old friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Avengers reunite with an old friend to say their goodbyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything in Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The surviving Avengers, Carol, X-Men, Defenders were in the room, everyone debriefing each other.

"We tried. He was just too strong." Tony sighed.

"I know. I know." Steve nodded as they all sat down.

"This bub seems even more dangerous than Apocalypse." Logan said.

"I think I've seen you in Dad's old war photos. Did you turn into a popsicle too?" Tony drawled, turning to Logan. "Or were you also injected with this-"

"First of all, I'm not like Steve, bub." Logan said. "And second of all, drop that attitude, that's not gonna help."

"I'm sorry about Foggy. And everyone else." Natasha turned to Matt.

"One moment we were celebrating, the next one, everyone turned into dust." Colleen said.

"It was Thanos." A familiar voice said and the Avengers widened their eyes as they turned to see…

"Phil?" Tony whispered.

"Son of Coul… you're alive!" Thor hugged Coulson tightly, not believing his own eyes. "What… how… I watched Loki kill you."

"Let me go or you just might do that." Coulson groaned, choking out.

"Sorry." Thor said.

"We all thought you were dead." Natasha said, not understanding.

"Technically, he was." Bobbi said upon entering with Hunter. "Until Project TAHITI."

"What? I thought it wasn't functional." Natasha said, confused.

"Project _what_?" Steve asked, confused.

"It was designed to be able to bring back a fallen Avenger from the death. I was one of the test subjects. It worked on me. The rest suffered mental breakdowns and started carving alien writing everywhere and their memories had to be wiped, in order for them to return to their lives." Coulson explained.

Natasha raised her brows. "When did you-"

"Few months after New York. I'm sorry. I wanted to tell you but Fury thought you all needed a push." Coulson explained as the original Avengers growled angrily.

"He's so lucky he got dusted too." Tony snarled.

"Look, Fury thought what was right and I don't like what he did any more than any of you but what's done is done. We all have more pressing concerns to focus on." Coulson said, grunting in pain as he fell down.

"Phil? Are you alright?" Tony asked as Coulson passed out.

"He doesn't have much time." Mack said.

"It's a long story but the serum that was keeping him alive, it's been burned out of his body. He's dying." Simmons explained.

"Get him to the infirmary." Tony said as Pepper accompanied Coulson, Bobbi, Mack, Hunter, Fitz and Simmons before he turned to Matt, Jessica, Colleen and Davos. "And I'm sorry but who are you lots? I recognize Mr. Murdock but where's Nelson?"

"Gone. Turned into dust." Matt explained.

"Matt… is an old friend of mine." Natasha explained. "You might know him under another name. Daredevil."

"Wait, that's him? The Devil of Hell's Kitchen is a blind lawyer?" Steve asked, incredulously.

"I may have lost my sight but there are other ways to see." Matt explained.

"Few days ago, some of our friends got turned into dust and we've come here to look for questions." Trish explained. "I guess we all have a lot of explaining to do."

They saw the heated stares Tony and Steve were throwing at each other and felt the tension build up.

"Alright, I think we should all calm down and get some rest, alright?" Colleen intervened, trying to be the peacemaker here. "We can all agree that it's been rough for us and it might be best to clear our heads before we decide to take a next step."

Everyone considered and nodded, in no mood for arguing.

* * *

"I can't believe they're all gone." Matt sighed, sitting down.

"We'll find a way to beat this, Matthew. We must." Elektra promised as she sat next to him, holding his hand.

* * *

"Jess… I know that we… haven't been on best of terms lately but with my Mom and Luke gone… I mean… if you need to talk…" Trish paused.

Jessica couldn't hold back her tears anymore as she hugged Trish, both of them crying and letting out feelings they had been holding back.

* * *

Later in the morning, the Avengers, Defenders and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and the X-Men entered for debriefing as everyone filled each other in on what they had been through before Natasha focused on the current situation at hand.

"He did exactly what he was going to do. Thanos wiped out… 50% of all living creatures." Natasha summed up as Thor was sitting down, glowering.

"Where is he now?" Tony asked, on a wheelchair and a drip with medicine attached to his vein.

"We don't know. He just opened a portal and walked through." Steve said and Tony sighed.

"What's wrong with him?" Tony asked, turning to Thor, who was in his room, glowering.

"Oh, he's pissed." Rocket said. "He thinks he failed. Which, of course, he did but of there's a lot of that going around, ain't there?"

Tony looked at Rocket in disbelief. "Honestly, until this exact second, I thought you were a Build-A-Bear."

"Maybe I am." Rocket shrugged.

"We've been hunting Thanos for three weeks now. Deep space scans and satellites and we got nothing." Steve said before turning to Tony, who was lost in thought.

"Who told you that?" Tony snapped. "I didn't fight him. No, he wiped my face with a planet, while the Bleecker Street magician gave away the store. That's what happened. There was no fight because he's not beatable-"

"Did he give you any clues, coordinates, anything?" Steve asked. Tony spluttered like a little child as everyone rolled their eyes at his antics. "Tony, I'm gonna need you to focus." Steve implored.

"And I needed you. As in, past tense. That trumps what you need. It's too late, buddy. Sorry." Tony got up, throwing away the bowl of food on the table as he pulled the drip off his vein. "You know what, I need a shave. And I believe I remember telling all youse… alive…"

"Tony. Tony!" Rhodey tried to talk him down.

"…and otherwise that what we needed was a suit of armor around the world. Remember that? Whether it impacted our precious freedoms or not. That's what we needed." Tony said, annoyed. "I think the kid would've liked you." Tony then turned to the Defenders. "I wish I had found out about you two years ago."

"You mean, like when you recruited and blackmailed a teenager kid into going to Leipzig?" Steve snapped.

"If you had listened to me, none of this had to happen! I said, '_We'd lose!_' You said, '_We'll do that together too._'" Tony said.

"I told you that the Accords were a mistake!" Steve shot back. "They put Sam, Clint, Wanda and Scott into a prison with no trial!"

"And they almost locked me up too." Trish nodded. "I was caught few weeks back because of my powers and on my way to Raft but I managed to escape. They never gave me any trial and arrested me only because I was Enhanced."

"I was trying to get the Accords amended!" Tony defended.

"Yeah? And how exactly would you have done that? You promised me the same thing but you had allowed Wanda to be under house arrest and let Ross hand Bucky over to T'Challa for a crime he did not commit!" Steve exploded. "What could you have done to amend the Accords? Because I don't see how you would have any leverage!"

Tony opened his mouth to argue but no sound came out, realizing Steve had a point.

"If you had listened to me and wasn't trying to force us to sign them, we wouldn't have to have this conversation. And honestly, you're the last person I ever expected to give into the government." Steve sighed. "Look, I get that you're angry and you have a right to be but you need to realize that you were wrong as well."

Tony sighed, considering and realizing that if he had not let his guilt get the better of him, regarding the Accords, this could have been avoided, since all the Avengers could have stood together and have a better chance at stopping Thanos but before he could speak up, he passed out and fell down from the exhaustion.

* * *

"You're going to be alright, sir." Fitz said as he, Daisy and Simmons were at Coulson's bed, their eyes getting wet. "We can help you-"

"There's no helping me anymore, Fitz." Coulson said, smiling at Daisy, Fitz and Simmons. "For what it's worth… I'm proud of you. I'm proud of you both. In many ways… you've shown me what it's like to have children. I was the one, who'd always look out for you all, in many ways… you were like my family."

"Yeah. You're the one who brought us all together." Daisy said, sniffing.

"We all know I won't be around for long now… so promise me that you'll look out for each other from now on. And whatever happens… never let go of each other, ever again." Coulson said.

"We won't." Simmons nodded.

"Promise." Fitz nodded.

"I never thought this day would ever come… my last moments with people I love… my friends… my family." Coulson looked around and eyed Bobbi, Hunter and the remaining Avengers and Pepper. "I guess we'll never have that beer again, will we?"

"Save us one back up in there." Hunter quipped, looking up in the ceiling.

"I will." Coulson smiled as Hunter and Bobbi chuckled.

Coulson then pointed at Mack to lean towards him as Coulson neared Mack's ear. "I know that S.H.I.E.L.D. is not what it was anymore now but… you're the director now, Mack." Mack raised his brows in shock.

"Sir, I-"

"You're a good man, Mack. And I know you can make the hard calls. Do better than I ever could. Do better…" Coulson whispered lowly.

"I… I promise, sir." Mack nodded as he got up.

Coulson then turned to Natasha, Thor, Tony and Pepper. "It's been a wild ride, hasn't it?"

"It sure has." Tony nodded.

"For what it's worth… I'm sorry. I'm sorry I never told anyone one of you I was alive. I had convinced myself that you would do better believing I was dead but… I was a coward." Coulson said. "Too big of a coward to… face the truth."

Tony, Pepper, Steve, Bruce, Natasha and Thor felt touched. None of them were happy about it but they understood.

"It's OK, Phil." Pepper said as she held Coulson's hand before he turned to Thor.

"It… it wasn't your fault." Coulson said weakly as Thor's brows raised. "You… you couldn't have known Loki would trick us again."

"I should've learned from my mistakes." Thor said. "If I had-"

"Dwelling on what you could've done… it will only cause you more pain than my death already has." Coulson said weakly and they knew he was not going to last long.

When Tony came to, the Avengers, Daisy, Bobbi, Hunter, Fitz, Simmons and Mack were in the room with him as he lied on the stretcher, wires attached to him and the medical monitors before he turned his head to see next to him Coulson dying.

"Hey, Tony." Coulson smiled weakly.

"Phil…" Tony turned to him.

"Don't… let your ego… ever… let the better of you…" Coulson said and then, the heart monitor flatlined as Coulson closed his eyes and everyone felt their eyes get wet, mourning for Coulson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I did the last moment with Coulson well. I love the character but his time was overdue and I don't see how he could survive and I think that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers deserved their final moments with Coulson, and especially Thor, to absolve him of the guilt over Loki killing him.


	4. I am inevitable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Avengers hunt for Thanos in an attempt to reverse the Decimation, only to realize that all hope seems to have vanished.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything in Marvel Cinematic Universe.

* * *

Tony had passed out due to the exhaustion again as everyone mourned for Coulson.

"I'm sorry. He seemed like a good man." Matt said as he drank with Natasha.

"He was." Natasha said.

"Honestly, I know what it's like when people you think you know, turn out to be someone different, especially, when you find out they had been keeping a secret that could've made a difference on your whole life." Matt said. "All I'm saying is, if you ever need to talk…" Natasha nodded before remembering as she laughed. "You just nodded, did you?"

"Yeah." Natasha said, wiping her eyes. "I appreciate it, Matt."

* * *

"So… you have a magical fist?" Thor asked Colleen and Davos.

"It's not magic. It's chi." Davos explained. "Chi… it flows through everything. Chi is life force."

Colleen charged her Iron Fist.

"Interesting. I think I could've used that, when I landed on Earth years ago." Thor said, remembering his time as a mortal in New Mexico.

* * *

"Where are you going?" Steve asked as Carol was walking off.

"To kill Thanos." Carol explained.

"Hey. You know, we usually work as a team here and between you and I, morale's a little fragile." Natasha intervened.

"We realize up there is more your territory but this is our fight too." Steve pointed out.

"You even know where he is?" Rhodey asked.

"I know people who might." Carol said.

"Don't bother." Nebula said upon entering. "I can tell you where Thanos is."

* * *

Rocket turned on the hologram of Earth. "When Thanos snapped his fingers, Earth became ground zero for a power surge of ridiculously cosmic proportions." They saw a pulse of energy coming throughout the Earth and possibly the entire Milky Way. "No one's ever seen anything like it. Until two days ago… on this planet." The hologram showed a distant planet marked 0259-S, where the same power surge appeared.

"Thanos is there." Nebula realized.

"He used the stones again." Natasha deduced.

"Hey, hey, hey, we'd be going in shorthanded, you know?" Bruce argued.

Rhodey spoke up. "Look, he's still got the stones, so…"

"So let's get them. Use them to bring everyone back." Carol proposed.

"Just like that?" Bruce scoffed.

"Yeah. Just like that." Steve nodded.

"Even if there's a small chance that we can undo this… I mean, we owe it to everyone, who's not in this room to try." Natasha said.

"If we do this, how do we know it's gonna end any differently than it did before?" Bruce pointed out.

"Because before, you didn't have me." Carol said.

"Hey, new girl? Everybody in this room is about that superhero life. And if you don't my asking, where the hell have you been all this time?" Rhodey demanded as he turned to Carol.

"There are a lot of other planets in the universe and unfortunately, they didn't have you, guys." Carol said.

"Bullshit!" Rocket snapped, forcing Carol to be silent.

"My father would have known if someone like you were interfering in his business." Nebula sneered.

"Why haven't the Guardians met you? Or Heimdall would have." Thor glared.

"Where were you when Ronan and then Thanos attacked Xandar?!" Rocket snarled.

Carol's eyes were wide as she looked at Rocket before backing down against them all, knowing that accusations against her were very true. Guilt and shame was now flashing in her eyes as she had not done her job properly for sure.

Carol looked at them all with guilt in her eyes and realized she had crossed a line with her arrogance this time.

"I-I knew about Thanos." Carol said as she looked up at them all. "But I was too afraid of him. So I continued trying to find a home for the Skrulls." She then looked at them apologetically. "I'm sorry for my behavior. I crossed a line with it."

"Let's go get this son of a bitch." Steve ordered.

* * *

_ **Titan II** _

Steve, Natasha, Bruce, Nebula and Thor were in the Benatar as they and Carol flew towards Titan II and Carol flew down for a recon and Natasha saw Steve stare at the photo of Peggy as she smiled at him.

"This is gonna work, Steve." Natasha assured him.

"I know it will." Steve said optimistically. "Because I don't know what I'm gonna do, if it doesn't."

"_No satellites. No ships. No armies. No ground defenses of any kind. It's just him._" Carol said.

"And that's enough." Nebula pointed out.

* * *

Thanos was walking down the garden and harvesting crops and he entered his hut and preparing food as the left half of his body was burned. Suddenly, a beam of light burst in through the roof and Thanos used the Infinity Gauntlet to block it before Carol flew in, knocking Thanos down. She grabbed Thanos in the chokehold, trying to yank out the Gauntlet as from the ground emerged Bruce in the Hulkbuster armor and Rhodey flew in.

All of them restrained Thanos and held his arms before Thor flew in and cut his hand off, in which he had the Gauntlet as Thanos screamed in pain.

Steve and Natasha entered with Rocket but Rocket looked in shock to see that the stones weren't in the Gauntlet. "Oh, no."

Thanos groaned as Steve turned to him. "Where are they?"

"Answer the question." Carol ordered, tightening her grip around Thanos' neck.

"The universe required correction. After that, the stones served no purpose beyond temptation." Thanos explained.

"You murdered trillions!" Bruce yelled, outraged as he shoved Thanos, knocking him down.

"You should be grateful…" Thanos grunted as Bruce punched him in the face as everyone looked in despair.

"Where are the stones?" Natasha demanded.

"Gone. Reduced to atoms." Thanos said.

"You used them two days ago!" Bruce reminded.

"I used the stones to destroy the stones." Thanos explained as they saw half of his body burned. "It nearly killed me. But the work is done. It always will be. I am… inevitable."

Everyone stared in disbelief.

"We have to tear this place apart. He has to be lying!" Rhodey said desperately.

"My father is many things." Nebula said. "A liar is not one of them."

Thanos turned to her gratefully, wondering if he should have treated her better. "Ah. Thank you, daughter. Perhaps I treated you too harshly…"

Suddenly, Thor roared as he swung his axe and Thanos' head fell off his neck and rolled down on the floor as body toppled a moment later and the blood spattered across Nebula's face, who wiped it off, looking at her father in some sympathy, despite what he had done to her.

"What did you do?" Rocket whispered, realizing that all hope was gone.

"I went for the head." Thor said before walking away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hadn't thought of it at first but Carol's appearance only opens up more plot holes.
> 
> Where was she when Ronan attacked Xandar? She was shoe-horned because of Kevin Feige and it's like she didn't even exist until the post-credits scene in Infinity War. Her being introduced at this point only opens up several problems from a writer's standpoint. The first Captain America movie was a flashback movie but we had evidence of Steve's existence in the MCU before his first movie and also the impact of his existence so his movie didn't open up any plotholes. But with Captain Marvel, they opened a lot of them.
> 
> And her arrogance in the film didn't do her any favors.
> 
> So, what do you guys think?
> 
> Please review and let me know if you have been enjoying this and want for me to continue.


	5. Five years later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Five years later, everyone tries to cope with the aftermath of the Decimation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything in Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Five years after the Decimation, people all across the universe tried to move on with their lives, when there was no reversing of what happened.

* * *

_ **Texas** _

Logan, having grown longer hair and beard, walked into a shop before he saw two people harass a woman and Logan roared, cutting them down with his claws as the woman stared. Logan then picked some cans of beer and approached the cash register.

"You're a hunter?" The vendor asked.

"Not anymore." Logan said sadly as he left.

* * *

_ **New York** _

In a stadium, Steve led a counseling group to help people cope with the loss of the people affected by the Snap.

"So, I… I went on a date the other day. It's the first time in five years." One of the men in the group spoke up. "You know? I'm sitting there at the dinner. I didn't even know what to talk about."

"What did you talk about?" Steve inquired.

"Eh, same old crap. You know, how things have changed. My job, his job. How much we miss the Mets. And then things got quiet…" The man paused. "…then he cried as they were serving the salads."

"What about you?" Another man asked.

"I cried just before dessert." The man replied. "But I'm seeing them again tomorrow, so…"

"That's great. You did the hardest part. You took the jump. You didn't know where you were gonna come down." Steve said. "And that's it. Those little brave baby steps we gotta take to try and become whole again, try and find purpose. I went in the ice in '45, right after I met the love of my life. Woke up 70 years later. You gotta move on. Gotta move on." Steve looked down, mourning everyone he had lost for a moment before looking up. "The world is in our hands. It's left to us, guys. And we gotta do something with it. Otherwise, Thanos should've killed all of us."

* * *

_ **Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters** _

Xavier, Storm, McCoy and Kitty were trying to help the students but most of the mutants were reluctant to use their powers after the Decimation and the incident with the Sentinels in 1973 as Erik was leaving the school before he turned to Xavier.

"All those years wasted fighting each other, Charles." Erik said sadly as he and Xavier mourned their fellow mutants. "To have a precious few of them back…"

He and Xavier shook hands, making peace with each other and letting go of their feud and differences of opinions.

"All that matters, is that we need to move on." Xavier said. "We can always rebuild."

"Half of our people are gone." Erik sighed. "Ever the optimist, are you, Charles? Why won't you give up on this childish dream of humans and mutants and Enhanced and Inhumans living together? You must see by now that they have become our undoing."

"Never, Erik. The world needs dreamers to give it a soul." Xavier said.

"And it needs realists to keep it alive." Erik sneered before leaving.

"Charles, Magneto is a lost cause." Storm said as she approached him.

"There were dozens of time he could've crushed us. But he didn't and that proves that there is hope for even the hardest of hearts." Xavier said hopefully.

* * *

** _Bulletin_ **

"Before I watched my brother turn into dust in front of me… I… we were happy that… he had earned his dream job in Roxxon. But as we celebrated…" The woman sniffed as her eyes got wet.

"It's alright. Take your time." Karen interrupted the woman as she stopped writing and turned off the recorder. "You know what, there's coffee back there."

The woman nodded and got up and left as Karen sighed as she continued writing memoirs of all the people in New York that had been affected by the Decimation as she turned to photo of her mentors Ellison, also affected by the Decimation and Urich, who had been murdered by Fisk. "I wish I had your strength. You know how to get through it."

Then she turned on the radio and listened to Trish's broadcast.

"_It's been five years since half of New York lost people they care about but while they are gone, their memories live on in the people they love._" Trish said. "_Now I have another person, who would like to share their memories of their friends and family. So, Hayden, would you like to tell us about your family?_"

"_Well… me and my parents… we… we weren't a perfect family but we were happy and…_"

* * *

_ **New York** _

Jessica did what she did best, even before the Snap. She tried to investigate and follow people, who were not who they seemed to be and bring them to justice, despite that law enforcement was shattered.

Jessica slammed a man to the ground. "You're a lying cheat. Your wife would turn herself in her grave."

"She already has. What do you care? Half of the people…"

"…are gone!" Jessica said, mourning Luke. "And yet, assholes like you still walk free! You think you can walk free with this?"

"Please, no, no, please-"

Jessica punched him twice in the face as he was knocked out, bruised and bloodied.

* * *

"Run! Or he's gonna get us!" One of the thieves said as they ran down an alley.

"Who? The cops and the Avengers are gone." Another thief protested.

"It's not them I'm worried about…"

Suddenly, a billy club hit him in the head as Daredevil jumped down from above and beat up the thieves as one of them crawled on the ground.

"Please, we need it, please-"

"You think that because you'll beg, I'll show you mercy? No one got any mercy, when half of the world disappeared. Don't expect me to give you any." Daredevil said. "Face the devil." He then proceeded to beat the man up brutally as blood spattered.

* * *

Later, Matt put down his mask in his apartment as Elektra returned, seeing the blood on his suit.

"This is not going to change what happened." Elektra pointed out.

"It's the only thing I have left." Matt said. "I wanted to try to be Matt Murdock again but half of my friends are gone. I told you, it's better for me to die as the Devil, than live as Matt Murdock."

"You need to move on." Elektra said. "It won't bring Foggy, Luke or Danny back."

"Maybe not. But it's the only thing keeping me going. Even my mother is gone." Matt said and Elektra looked at him in sympathy, not sure what to say.

* * *

_ **Chikara Dojo** _

"In peace, you'll find balance. Anger will only cloud your judgement." Colleen said as she was training her students, trying to help them cope with the losses in the Decimation.

* * *

Later, her phone rang as she answered it. "Yeah?"

"_I… wanted to know everything was alright in New York and how is everyone dealing._" Davos asked.

"We… we're trying." Colleen admitted. "How's everything in K'un-Tzu?"

"_We're rebuilding. We've got over fifty students in the past year._" Davos said.

"That's great, isn't it?" Colleen asked.

"_Well… the monks are uneasy to teach them the ways of the Order of Crane Mother, after K'un-L'un. But we've learned to harness the chi. It doesn't take one Iron Fist anymore._" Davos said. "_They may not be as strong as you or Danny but they're strong enough._"

Colleen sighed, wondering how she could help everyone else cope with their losses.

* * *

_ **San Francisco** _

In a garage, in a store called "U-STORE-It Self Storage", in Luis' van, long abandoned, a rat was walking on the controls of the quantum tunnel on the dash of the van as the tunnel turned on and Scott flew out and groaned in pain as he fell on a mattress before removing his helmet and brushing off and blowing off the dirt before he looked around in confusion, why was he in some storage. "What the hell? Hope?"

* * *

A security guard stared in shock to see a man in a cage with the van, wondering how he got in there as Scott was shouting and holding in his hand a sign "HELP!"

* * *

The guard let Scott out as he walked down San Francisco with a cart of his equipment and he stared in shock to see that the city seemed to be long abandoned, like in some kind of an post-apocalyptic movie, with bags of trash everywhere, rusted cars and trees overgrowing and a boy on a bike passed by Scott.

"Kid. Hey. Kid." Scott called out as the boy turned to him as he stopped, looking sad.

"What the hell happened here?" Scott demanded.

The boy didn't reply and just drove down.

Scott approached the Wall, a memorial with stone walls across the park, with names carved on the stones, labeled "THE VANISHED" as he realized that something terrible has happened to the people in the city and then he ran down and checked each wall, hoping that his worst fears did not come true.

"Oh, please! Please, please! No, no, no, no, no." Scott passed by the people, looking for his family on the wall. "Excuse me, sorry. Oh, Cassie, no. No, no, no. No, no. Please, please, please, please, please, no, Cassie." He then narrowed his eyes and was shocked to see his own name among the vanished. "What?"

* * *

Scott rushed down the street to the house of his ex-wife Maggie and was ringing the doorbell and banging on the door frantically. Then, to his surprise, a teenage girl opened the door and her eyes filled with tears as she hugged him tightly before staring at him, holding his cheeks and Scott was shocked at first but then, as he got a closer look, he couldn't believe it. It was his own daughter, who had grown up to be a teenager. "Cassie?"

"Dad?" Cassie sobbed as she and Scott hugged each other and Scott held onto her, glad that his daughter did not disappear as well as he sobbed too.

"You're so big." Scott said as Cassie laughed.

* * *

_ **New Avengers Facility** _

"_Yeah. We boarded that highly suspected warship Danvers pinged._" Rocket said as Natasha was preparing herself a sandwich and having a hologram conference with Nebula, Rocket, Okoye, Carol, Xavier, Rhodey and Mack.

"_It was an infectious garbage scow._" Nebula said, disgusted.

"_So, thanks for the hot tip._" Rocket turned to Carol.

"_Well, you were closer._" Carol argued.

"_Yeah. And now we smell like garbage._" Rocket protested.

"You get a reading on those tremors?" Natasha asked as she sat down.

"_It was a mild subduction under the African plate._" Okoye said.

"Do we have a visual? How are we handling it?" Natasha inquired.

"_Nat. It's an earthquake under the ocean._" Okoye pointed out, as Natasha realized they were shorthanded. "_We handle it by not handling it._"

"Carol, are we seeing you here next month?" Natasha asked, turning to Carol.

"_Not likely._" Carol said, as she had cut her hair.

"_What? You gonna get another haircut?_" Rocket joked.

"_Listen, fur face._" Carol turned to him with a glare. "_I'm covering a lot of territory. The things that are happening on Earth are happening everywhere. On thousands of plantes._"

"_All right, all right._" Rocket nodded, realizing how tactless he was. "_That's a good point. That's a good point._"

"_So, you might not see me for a long time._" Carol said, turning to Natasha.

"_We're trying to help the mutant community here, Erik and I are doubling our efforts to keep everything under control._" Xavier said.

"All right." Natasha nodded. "Uh, well… this channel's always active. So, if anything goes sideways, anyone's making trouble where they shouldn't… comes through me."

"_OK._"

"_OK._" Rocket and Okoye said.

"All right." Natasha nodded.

"_Good luck._" Carol said as they turned off the channel before Natasha turned to Rhodey and Mack as she sat down.

"Where are you?" Natasha asked.

"_Mexico. The Federales found a room full of bodies._" Rhodey explained. "_Looks like a bunch of cartel guys never even had a chance to get their guns off._"

"It's probably a rival gang." Natasha pointed out.

"_Except it isn't._" Rhodey said.

"Castle?" Natasha asked, since this seemed like Frank's style.

"_No, he attacks from a distance, this was more up close and personal. Knives, swords, blades and arrows._" Mack said.

"_It's definitely Barton._" Rhodey agreed. "_Last I checked, Castle killed John Saint, when he tried to escape the prison in Ryker's Island last year and hasn't been seen since._ _What Barton's done here… what he's been doing for the last few years…_" Natasha looked down, not wanting to imagine what her best friend was going through. "_I mean, the scene that he left, I gotta tell you, there's a part of me that doesn't even wanna find him._" Rhodey said and Natasha could only imagine how low did Clint end up.

"Will you find out where he's going next?" Natasha asked, with her eyes getting wet.

"_Nat…_" Rhodey trailed off.

"Please?" Natasha pleaded, on verge of tears, making it obvious how desperately she wanted to find Clint.

"_OK._" Rhodey nodded.

"_But, Natasha, you should face the possibility that he might not listen to you._" Mack argued.

"I have to try." Natasha said as Mack and Rhodey nodded before they hung up and Natasha put her hands on her nose, finally letting out the emotions she had been bottling up as she sniffed.

"You know, I'd offer to cook you a dinner but you seem pretty miserable already." Steve said.

"Are you here to do your laundry?" Natasha asked.

"And to see a friend." Steve said as Natasha leaned onto her chair.

"Clearly, your friend is fine." Natasha said, getting ahold of herself.

"You know, I saw a pod of whales when I was coming over the bridge." Steve said, trying to make her smile.

"In the Hudson?" Natasha inquired.

"There's fewer ships, cleaner water…" Steve said.

"You know, if you're about to tell me to look on the bright side, um…" Natasha bit her lip. "I'm about to hit you in the head with a peanut butter sandwich."

"Hmm. Sorry. Force of habit." Steve said before he sat down as Natasha handed him a plate with sandwich. "You know, I keep telling everybody they should move on and grow. Some do. But not us."

"If I move on, who does this?" Natasha pointed out.

"Maybe it doesn't need to be done." Steve argued.

Natasha considered before remembering the friends she had lost in the Decimation. "I used to have nothing. And then I got this. This job. This family. Bucky. And I was better because of it. And even though they're gone, I'm still trying to be better."

"I think we both need to get a life." Steve said.

"You first." Natasha said.

Suddenly, they saw on screen at the entrance a familiar face as they watched in disbelief. "_Oh, hi, hi! Is anyone home?_" Scott yelled as Steve and Natasha looked in shock. "_This is, uh, Scott Lang. We met a few years ago at the airport in Germany? I was the guy that got really big. I had a mask on. You wouldn't recognize me._"

"Is this an old message?" Steve asked as he got up, looking in surprise at the screen.

"_Ant-Man? I know you know that._" Scott said.

"It's the front gate." Natasha said, smiling in hope.

"_I really need to talk to you guys._"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what do you guys think?
> 
> Please review and let me know if you have been enjoying this and want for me to continue.


	6. Scott's idea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scott proposes a plan to reverse the Decimation as the Avengers recruit their former friends and allies to help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything in Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Scott was pacing down the room, muttering to himself as Steve spoke up. "Scott." Scott turned to Steve, his thoughts returning to the present. "Are you OK?"

"Yeah." Scott said, wiping his face. "Have either of you guys ever studied quantum physics?"

"Only to make conversation." Natasha admitted.

"All right, so… five years ago, right before… Thanos… I was in a place called "the quantum realm"." Scott explained. "The quantum realm is like its own microscopic universe. To get in, you have to be incredibly small. Hope. She's my, um… she was my… she was supposed to pull me out. And then Thanos happened and I got stuck in there."

"I'm sorry, that must have been a very long five years." Natasha looked at Scott in sympathy.

"Yeah, but that's just it." Scott said. "It wasn't. For me, it was five hours." Natasha and Steve now each had confused looks on their faces. "See, the rules of the quantum realm aren't like they are up here. Everything is unpredictable." He then noticed a half-eaten sandwich on a table, realizing how hungry he was. "Is that anybody's sandwich? I'm starving." Scott picked the sandwich from the table and took a bite.

"Scott. What are you talking about?" Steve said, trying to make Scott come back to the topic at hand.

"So… what I'm saying is… time works differently in the quantum realm. The only problem is right now, we don't have a way to navigate it." Scott said, pacing down the room. "But what if we did? I can't stop thinking about it." Steve and Natasha turned to each other in shock, realizing what was Scott implying. "What if we could somehow control the chaos and we could navigate it? What if there was a way that we could enter the quantum realm at a certain point in time but then exit the quantum realm at another point in time? Like… like before Thanos."

"Wait. Are you talking about a time machine?" Steve interrupted Scott.

"No. No, of course no. No, not a time machine." Scott shook his head. "This is more like a…" He paused, realizing what was he implying and the ridiculousness of his idea. "Yeah. Like a time machine. I know, it's crazy. It's crazy. But I can't stop thinking about it. There's gotta be… some way… It's crazy." He sighed, realizing how insane his plan was.

"Scott. I get emails from a raccoon, so nothing sounds crazy anymore." Natasha said dryly.

"So, who do we talk to about this?" Scott asked, hoping there was still someone out there smart enough to help realize his plan.

* * *

_ **Stark Residence** _

In the countryside, Tony went out from the cabin and walked down towards a small tent, clapping his hands. "Chow time!" He sat at the small chair. "Maguna." Tony pulled out a small toy. "Morgan H. Stark, you want some lunch?"

A little girl wearing Iron Man's helmet and a toy that looked like a repulsor went out from a tent. "_Define 'lunch' or be disintegrated._"

"Okay. You should not be wearing that, okay?" Tony said. "That is a part of a special anniversary gift I'm making for Mom." He hugged Morgan and kissed the helmet and Morgan giggled as he took off the helmet from her head. "There you go. You thinking about lunch? I can give you a handful of crickets on a bed of lettuce." He fondled her hair.

"No." Morgan said.

"That's what you want." Tony said. "How did you find this?" He showed her the helmet.

"Garage." Morgan said.

"Really?" Tony asked. "Were you looking for it?"

"No." Morgan shook her head. "I found it, though."

"Hmm. You like going into garage, huh?" Tony picked Morgan up, going to the cabin. "So does Daddy. It's fine, actually. Mom never wears anything I buy her. So, I'm gonna…" He scowled upon seeing Steve, Scott and Natasha parking the car and leaving it, wondering what did they want as he let his daughter in.

* * *

Tony poured the visitors a drink as they sat at the front porch, laughing at how ridiculous their plan was.

"No. We know what it sounds like." Scott said.

"Tony, after everything you've seen, is anything really impossible?" Steve pointed out.

"Quantum fluctuation messes with the Planck scale, which then triggers the Deutsch Proposition. Can we agree on that?" Tony said, not that anyone understood as he handed Steve the glass of juice.

"Thank you." Steve said.

"In layman's terms, it means you're not coming home." Tony explained.

"I did." Scott argued.

"No. You accidentally survived." Tony pointed out and sighed. "It's a billion-to-one cosmic fluke. And now you wanna pull a… What do you call it?"

"A time heist?" Scott said hesitantly, not sure how to call his plan.

"Yeah, a time heist. Of course." Tony chuckled. "Why didn't we think of this before?" He asked sarcastically. "Oh, because it's laughable. Because it's a pipe dream."

"The stones are in the past." Steve pointed out. "We could go back, we could get them."

"We can snap our own fingers. We can bring everybody back." Natasha added.

"Or screw it up worse than he already has, right?" Tony drawled.

"I don't believe we would and I think you have your share of blame as well, don't you think?" Steve shot back and Tony winced.

"Gotta say it. I sometimes miss that giddy optimism." Tony said as he sat on his chair. "However, high hopes won't help, if there's no logical, tangible way for me to safely execute said time heist. I believe the most likely outcome will be our collective demise."

"Not if we strictly follow the rules of time travel." Scott explained as he sat down. "All right? It means no talking to our past selves, no betting on sporting events…"

"I'm gonna stop you right there, Scott." Tony interrupted him. "Are you seriously telling me that your plan to save the universe is based on '_Back to the Future_'?" He asked, pointing out how ridiculous and unrealistic Scott's idea was. "Is it?"

"No." Scott denied, not wanting to give Tony the satisfaction of mocking him.

"Good. You had me worried there. 'Cause that would be horseshit." Tony said. "That's not how quantum physics works."

"Tony. We have to take a stand." Natasha pleaded desperately.

"We did stand. And yet, here we are." Tony argued.

"I know you got a lot on the line. You got a wife, a daughter. But I lost someone very important to me." Scott said, understanding Tony's predicament and trying to reason with him. "A lotta people did. And now, now we have a chance to bring her back, to bring _everyone _back and you're telling me that you won't even…"

"That's right, Scott. I won't even. I can't." Tony said, his voice breaking.

Morgan went out and approached Tony. "Mommy told me to come and save you."

"Good job. I'm saved." Tony hugged Morgan as he got up from his seat, turning to Steve and Natasha. "I wish you were coming here to ask me something else. Anything else. I'm honestly happy to see you guys, I just… Oh, look, the table's set for six."

"Tony. I get it." Steve said, understanding Tony not wanting to risk losing his family. "And I'm happy for you. I really am. But this is a second chance."

"I got my second chance right here, Cap." Tony said. "Can't roll the dice on it. If you don't talk shop, you can stay for lunch." He went into his house as Steve, Natasha and Scott left.

"Well, he's scared." Natasha pointed out.

"He's not wrong." Steve said.

"Yeah, but, I mean, what are we gonna do?" Scott said. "We need him. What, are we gonna stop?"

"No, I wanna do it right. We're gonna need a really big brain." Steve said.

"Bigger than his?" Scott asked, not believing that there would be someone alive, who was smarter than Tony.

* * *

_ **Later** _

Steve, Natasha and Scott met in a diner with Bruce, who had turned into the form of Hulk, who was not as savage as before but he had his humanity, managing to gain full control of it.

"Come on, I feel like I'm the only one eating here. Try some of that." Bruce said as he pointed towards the scrambled eggs and sausages on the plates on the table. "Have some eggs."

"I'm so confused." Scott said, not believing his own eyes.

"These are confusing times." Bruce chuckled.

"Right, no, no. That's not what I meant." Scott stammered.

"Nah, I get it. I'm kidding!" Bruce said, pouring himself a glass of milk. "I know, it's crazy." He pointed at himself, now wearing a shirt and a bathrobe, when he was always with ripped pants and almost naked, when he used to turn into the Hulk. "I'm wearing shirts now."

"Yeah. What? How? Why?" Scott blurted out.

"Five years ago, we got our asses beat." Bruce explained, wiping his mouth with a tissue. "Except it was worse for me 'cause I lost twice. First, Hulk lost, then Banner lost and then, we all lost."

"No one blamed you, Bruce." Natasha assured him.

"I did." Bruce said sadly. "For years, I've been treating the Hulk like he's some kind of disease, something to get rid of. But then, I start looking at him as the cure. Eighteen months in the gamma lab. I put the brains and the brawn together and now, look at me." He stretched his arms and pointed at himself as three children, two boys and a girl neared him. "Best of both worlds."

"Excuse me, Mr. Hulk?" The girl asked.

"Yes?" Bruce asked, turning to her.

"Can we get a photo?" The girl asked.

"100%, little person. Come on, step on up." Bruce handed Scott the girl's phone. "Do you mind?"

"Oh, yeah, yeah." Scott picked the phone.

"Thanks." Bruce said before he smiled. "Say 'green'."

"Green." The children said as Scott took a picture.

"Did you get that?" Bruce asked.

"That's a good one." Scott said as he sat down and handed the girl the phone back. "Did you want to grab one with me? I'm Ant-Man." None of the children recognized the name, much to his disappointment. "They're Hulk fans. They don't know Ant-Man. Nobody does."

"No, he wants you to take a picture with him." Bruce realized, teasing Scott.

"I don't want a picture." Scott protested.

"Stranger danger…" The little boy said.

"Yeah, look, he's even saying no, he doesn't." Scott pointed out. "I get it. I don't want it, either."

"But come on. The kid…"

"I don't want a picture with them." Scott protested.

"He's gonna feel bad."

"Sorry…

"They're happy to do it. They said they'll do it." Bruce said.

"I don't want to do it." Scott said.

"We can do it." The boy offered.

"No, you feel bad." Bruce teased.

"Take the goddamn phone." Scott snapped as the girl took it back.

"OK." Bruce nodded.

"Thank you, Mr. Hulk." The girl said upon walking away.

"No, it was great, kids. Thank you very much." Bruce told them as he clenched his fist. "Hulk out!"

"Bruce." Steve spoke up, making him focus.

"Dab."

"Bruce."

"Listen to your mom. She knows better."

"About what we were saying." Steve reminded as Bruce turned to them.

"Right. The whole time travel do-over? Eh, guys, it's outside my area of expertise." Bruce said hesitantly.

"Well, you pulled this off." Natasha pointed out, looking at Bruce in his Hulk form but seeming normal. "I remember a time when that seemed pretty impossible, too."

Bruce considered.

* * *

_ **Stark Residence** _

Tony had finished cleaning up the dishes as he looked sadly at the photo of himself and Peter before going to his office. "I got a mild inspiration. I'd like to see if it checks out. So, I'd like to run one last sim before we pack it in for the night. This time, in the shape of a Mobius strip inverted, please."

"_Processing._" FRIDAY said as the hologram was twisting the strip into a circle as Tony was trying to manipulate it with gestures of his hands.

"Right, give me the eigenvalue of that particle factoring in spectral decomp. That'll take a second."

"_Just a moment._"

Tony had taken a sip from his glass. "And don't worry if it doesn't pan out. I'm just kinda…"

"_Model rendered._" FRIDAY said as Tony puffed and sat down in surprise, realizing Scott's idea could work as he watched the simulation and exhaled sharply.

"Shit!" Tony swore.

"Shit." Morgan said, to Tony's surprise as he turned around and put his finger on his lips.

"What are you doing up, little miss?" Tony whispered.

"Shit." Morgan repeated, smiling.

"Nope. We don't say that. Only Mommy says that word." Tony said. "She coined it. It belongs to her."

"Why are you up?" Morgan asked.

"'Cause I've got some important shit going on here! Why do you think?" Tony said and Morgan scowled and narrowed her eyes as Tony said the word he was not supposed to. "No, I got something on my mind. I got something on my mind." He quickly corrected himself.

"Was it juice pops?" Morgan teased.

"Sure was." Tony said. "That's extortion. That's a word. What kind you want?" He got up, realizing what was his daughter doing. "Great minds think alike. Juice pops exactly was on my mind." He took Morgan's hand, leading her to the kitchen.

* * *

"You done? Yeah?" Tony asked, putting Morgan to bed. "Now you are. Here. Wipe." He wiped her mouth with the sleeve of his shirt and fondled her hair. "Good. That face goes there." Tony gently put Morgan to bed.

"Tell me a story." Morgan said.

"A story. Once upon a time, Maguna went to bed. The end." Tony said quickly.

"That is a horrible story." Morgan pointed out.

"Come on, that's your favorite story." Tony said. "Love you tons." He kissed Morgan on her forehead.

"I love you 3,000." Morgan said as Tony smiled, touched before turning off the lamp.

"3,000. That's crazy." Tony whispered before speaking up and leaving her bedroom. "Go to bed or I'll sell all your toys. Night night." Tony closed the door as he approached Pepper, who was reading from a book on the couch. "Not that it's a competition but she loves me 3,000."

"Does she, now?" Pepper teased.

"You were somewhere in the low 6 to 900 range." Tony said as Pepper chuckled. "Whatcha reading?"

"Just a book on composting." Pepper said.

"What's new with composting?" Tony asked.

"Interesting science…"

"I figured it out. By the way." Tony suddenly interrupted her as he turned to the blueprints in his office.

"And you know, just so we're talking about the same thing…"

"Time travel." Tony said.

"What?" Pepper asked, surprised. "Wow. That's amazing and terrifying."

"That's right." Tony nodded.

Pepper sighed as Tony sat down. "We got really lucky."

"Yeah. I know." Tony nodded.

"A lot of people didn't." Pepper reminded.

"Nope. And I can't help everybody." Tony said.

"Sorta seems like you can." Pepper said.

"Not if I stop." Tony argued. "I can put a pin in it right now and stop."

"Tony, trying to get you to stop has been one of the few failures of my entire life." Pepper pointed out as Tony held her hand, smiling.

"Something tells me I should put it in a lockbox and drop it to the bottom of the lake and go to bed." Tony pointed out.

Pepper considered. "But would you be able to rest?"

* * *

** _New Avengers Facility_ **

"OK, here we go. Time travel test number one." Bruce said. "Scott, fire up the, uh, van thing."

Scott opened the door of Luis's van in which was the quantum tunnel device.

"Do you think this will work?" Simmons asked.

"I'm not sure, Jemma." Fitz admitted. "I mean, quantum realm is unpredictable and this was more Dr. Pym's area of expertise than ours."

The quantum tunnel turned on.

"Breakers are set. Emergency generators are on standby." Steve said.

"Good, because if we blow the grid, I don't want to lose, uh, Tiny here in the 1950s." Bruce pointed at Scott, who was putting on his suit and a helmet.

"Excuse me?" Scott asked, terrified.

"He's kidding." Natasha assured Scott, although she sounded like she was trying to assure herself as she gritted her teeth, glaring at Bruce. "You can't say things like that."

"It was a bad joke." Bruce stammered.

"Well, it's never good idea to joke when you time travel. Trust me." Fitz pointed out.

"You were kidding, right?" Natasha asked hopefully as Scott was entering the tunnel.

"I have no idea. We're talking about time travel here. Either it's all a joke, or none of it is." Bruce said before turning to Fitz and Simmons. "You did time travel, so do you know…"

"It was an ancient alien artifact, not an actual time machine." Fitz argued.

"We're as much in the dark as you, Doctor Banner." Simmons said.

"Great." Natasha groaned.

"We're good! Get your helmet on." Bruce said, turning to Scott, who did as Bruce said. "Scott, I'm gonna send you back a week, let you walk around for an hour, then bring you back in 10 seconds. Make sense?"

"Perfectly not confusing." Scott said.

"Good luck, Scott. You got this." Steve assured him.

"You're right. I do, Captain America." Scott said before the tunnel sucked him in.

"On a count of three. Three, two, one." Bruce pressed some buttons and turned some switches as Scott returned as the machine whirred but he looked like a young boy.

"Uh… Guys? This doesn't feel right." Scott said, terrified at his looks.

"What is this?" Steve demanded, confused.

"What's going on?" Bruce wondered.

"Who is that?" Natasha demanded.

"Damn it." Simmons groaned.

"Oy." Fitz said.

"Hold on." Bruce typed in some commands and Fitz and Simmons approached the controls too, trying to fix the issue.

"Yes, it's Scott." Scott snapped as the tunnel sucked him in again.

"What's going on, Bruce?" Steve demanded.

"Oh, my back!" Scott said as he returned, looking like a 90-year old man, holding his back.

"Oh, come on." Fitz grumbled.

"What is this?" Steve asked.

"Hold on a second." Bruce said. "Could we get a little space here?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Can you bring him back?" Steve asked.

"We're working on it." Simmons said as Bruce typed in some commands and Scott got sucked in before he returned again, as a baby and Simmons couldn't help herself. "Oh…"

"It's a baby." Steve said.

"It's Scott." Bruce said.

"As a baby." Steve reminded.

"He'll grow." Fitz assured him.

"Bring Scott back." Steve ordered.

"When I say kill the power, kill the power." Bruce ordered as Simmons approached the lever before he typed in some commands. "And… kill it!"

Simmons pulled the lever as Scott got sucked in and back, in his normal age but a bit disturbed.

"Somebody peed my pants." Scott said.

"Oh, thank God." Natasha said, relieved.

"But I don't know if it was baby me or old me." Scott said. "Or just me me."

"Time travel!" Bruce cheered, glad it worked.

"It's not time travel, more like… rewind and fast-forward." Fitz said as the rest seemed disappointed.

"What? I see this as an absolute win." Bruce argued.

"It's useless if we cannot control it." Simmons said as Steve went out, disappointed and trying to process. And then, he heard engine roaring as a black Audi e-tron parked in front of the facility as Tony lowered the window, seeing Steve's disappointed look.

"Why the long face?" Tony asked. "Let me guess, he turned into a baby."

"Among other things, yeah. What are you doing here?" Steve asked.

"It's the EPR Paradox." Tony said, going out from his car. "Instead of pushing Lang through time, you might've wound up pushing time through Lang. It's tricky, dangerous. Somebody could have cautioned you against it."

"You did." Steve said.

"Oh, did I?" Tony drawled. "Well, thank God I'm here. Regardless, I fixed it." He showed Steve a device in form of some kind of a brace on his hand. "A fully functioning time-space GPS. I just want peace." Steve smiled, glad that Tony has come to his senses. "Turns out resentment is corrosive, and I hate it."

"Me, too." Steve said.

"We got a shot at getting these stones but I gotta tell you my priorities." Tony said. "Bring back what we lost, I hope, yes." Tony said. "Keep what I found, I have to, at all costs. And maybe not die trying. Would be nice."

"Sounds like a deal." Steve said, shaking his hand with Tony.

Tony then opened the trunk and showed Steve his old vibranium shield as Steve sighed, while appreciating Tony's token of peace, he was not certain he deserved it. "Tony, I don't know."

"Why?" Tony asked. "He made it for you. Plus, honestly, I have to get it out of the garage before Morgan takes it sledding."

Steve picked the shield. "Thank you, Tony."

"Will you keep that a little quiet?" Tony muttered, not wanting Steve to bruise his pride and ego. "Didn't bring one for the whole team. We are getting the whole team, yeah?"

"We're working on that right now." Steve said.

Scott was eating a taco before to his surprise, Benatar landed on the garden, blowing away the contents of the taco and he was surprised to see a blue female android alien and a talking racoon with a weapon go out of the spaceship.

"Hey, Humie." Rocket said. "Where's Big Green?"

"The kitchen, I think." Scott said hesitantly, shocked at the sight. "That's awesome." He gave a thumbs-up to Nebula.

"Rhodey, careful on re-entry. There's an idiot in the landing zone." Nebula called out.

And to Scott's surprise, War Machine landed next to him as Scott gasped, holding his chest. "Oh, God."

"_What's up, Regular-Sized Man?_" Rhodey teased.

* * *

_ **New Asgard** _

Bruce and Rocket drove towards the colony of Asgardians in Tønsberg, Norway as they watched the fishermen and the Asgardians and the former gladiators from Sakaar settle down.

"Kind of a step down from the golden palaces and the magic hammers and whatnot." Rocket pointed out.

"Hey, have a little compassion, pal. First, they lost Asgard, then half the people. They're probably just happy to have a home." Bruce said.

"You shouldn't have come." Brunnhilde, the Valkyrie, said, nearing Bruce.

"Ah! Valkyrie! Great to see you, angry girl!" Bruce teased.

"I think I liked you better either of the other ways." Valkyrie said.

"This is Rocket." Bruce introduced him.

"How ya doing?" Rocket asked.

"I'm not sure if he'll come back." Valkyrie said.

"That bad, huh?" Bruce asked before a rainbow beam landed on the ground as they saw Thor and a dark-haired woman neither he or Rocket recognized as Thor watched in surprise to see Bruce and Rocket.

"You…" Thor asked, as he and Sif were covered in blood, as Sif was holding in her hand a head of an ogre.

"What in Odin's beard… is that an ogre?" Sif asked.

"No, it's Hulk. An… old friend of mine." Thor explained.

"The green monster? He doesn't seem really intimidating." Sif said as Thor approached Bruce and Rocket, hugging them both.

"My friends!" Thor cheered.

"Oh, my jacket!" Bruce stepped back as he saw the bloodstains on his jacket.

"Sorry." Thor said. "What are you doing here?"

"What were you doing?" Bruce asked.

"Facing the Serpent." Thor said as he turned to Sif, who had in her hand the head of the monster.

"Hey. Blondie. We need your help." Rocket said. "We might have a shot at reversing what Thanos did."

Thor scowled, shocked. "It cannot be. It cannot be undone."

"Thor. You're a good man. And I know that you'll always find your way out because I've seen you come out even from the darkest spots that have ever existed. We need your help. Please." Bruce pleaded.

* * *

** _Tokyo_ **

Yakuza mobsters were being killed by a masked man in black hood, who threw knives at them and was jumping from a rooftop to another rooftop, slicing down anyone in his way and throwing them out through the windows as the mobsters screamed, unable to shoot down the masked man, who chased a Japanese man in black coat as they jumped on the ground.

Ronin jumped down, facing Akihiko, the Yakuza leader.

"_Why are you doing this?_" Akihiko demanded, pulling out his katana. "_We never did anything to you!_"

"_You survived. Half the planet didn't._" Ronin said, pulling out his sword. "_They got Thanos. You get me._"

Akihiko engaged Ronin as they fenced as Ronin cut him in the abdomen.

"_You're done hurting people._" Ronin said.

"_WE_ _hurt people?_" Akihiko asked incredulously, stretching his arms around and scoffing. "_You're crazy!_"

Akihiko swung his sword but Ronin blocked with his and hit Akihiko in the chest as Akihiko staggered back, while Ronin pointed at Akihiko's neck with the tip of his sword. Akihiko smirked, swinging his sword as Ronin parried and punched Akihiko in the face before cutting him across the abdomen and Akihiko gulped in pain before turning around.

"_Die!_" Akihiko shouted, rushing at Ronin and wanting to impale him on his sword but Ronin dodged, slicing Akihiko's throat, who gagged, holding his wound and falling on his knees, dropping his sword.

"_Wait! Help me!_" Akihiko begged. "_I'll give you anything! What do you want?_"

"What I want you can't give me." Ronin said in English before he impaled Akihiko on his sword and pulling it out and wiping the blood off the blade as Akihiko fell down, dead as he took off his hood and mask. "You shouldn't be here."

"Neither should you." Natasha said, holding her umbrella.

Clint turned around, facing her. "I've got a job to do."

"Is that what you're calling this? Doing what Castle does? Killing all these people isn't gonna bring your family back." Natasha pointed out as Clint considered. "We found something. A chance, maybe."

Clint turned to her, full of pain as he sighed. "Don't."

"_Don't_ what?" Natasha asked.

"Don't give me hope." Clint said, his eyes getting wet and voice breaking.

"I'm sorry I couldn't give it to you sooner." Natasha said, holding Clint's hand.

"_What is Romanoff doing there?_" Frank called out on Clint's comms, aiming at her with his rifle from a nearby rooftop.

"Can you tell Frank to come with us? We could use his help too." Natasha asked.

* * *

** _Texas_ **

Logan was in his house, remembering as he watched the photo of X-Men as Steve entered.

"What do you want, Cap?" Logan grumbled.

"Logan. We need your help." Steve said as Logan laughed.

"What makes you think you need my help?" Logan said as he got up.

"We may have a chance to bring everyone back." Steve said and Logan's face turned into one of a surprise.

"I'm listening." Logan considered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sif probably would've been killed by Hela as well, considering what she did to Warriors Three but since Jaimie Alexander was not available for Thor: Ragnarok, since she was shooting Blindspot at the time, I thought it would be fine to bring her here. And frankly, I wasn't a fan of Bro Thor since that was such a cringeworthy butt joke of the whole film, so I did refer to older Thor comic books where he and Sif and the Warriors Three were on adventures, hunting monsters across the Nine Realms.
> 
> And I thought it would make sense that considering Clint's rampage as Ronin, he and Frank would cross paths and maybe teamed up.
> 
> So, what do you guys think?
> 
> Please review and let me know if you have been enjoying this and want for me to continue.


	7. Time jump

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team brainstorms on how to execute Scott's plan before deciding to travel through time and retrieve the Infinity Stones.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything in Marvel Cinematic Universe.

_ **New Avengers facility** _

Tony, Fitz and Rocket were building the time machine as Nebula, Simmons and Bruce were helping Scott with his suit.

"Time travel suit. Not bad." Rhodey said as Bruce was helping Scott with the adjustments.

"Hey, easy, easy." Scott said.

"I'm being careful." Bruce assured him.

"No. You're being hulky." Scott snapped.

"I'm being careful." Bruce protested.

"These are Pym Particles, alright?" Scott said as he showed Bruce the vial with some red liquid. "And ever since Hank Pym got snapped out of existence, this is it. This is what we have. We're not making any more."

"Scott, calm down." Rhodey assured him.

"Sorry." Scott said, calmer. "We've got enough for one round-trip each. That's it. No do-overs. Plus two test runs." Scott put the vial back into his suit and fastened it until he accidentally shrunk himself before enlarging himself again. "One test run." Rhodey sighed. "All right. I'm not ready for this."

"I'm game." Clint volunteered. "I'll do it."

Clint put on the suit as Nebula, Simmons and Bruce were making adjustments.

"Clint, now you're gonna feel a little discombobulated from the chronoshift. Don't worry about it." Bruce said.

"Wait, wait, wait. Let me ask you something." Rhodey interrupted. "If we can do this, you know… go back in time, why don't we just find baby Thanos? You know, and…" He then did gestures with his hands, strangling a baby with an umbilical cord as Bruce and Simmons looked disgusted.

"Yeah, why hasn't anyone thought of that?" Logan drawled.

"First of all, that's horrible." Bruce said.

"It's Thanos." Rhodey argued.

"And second of all, time travel doesn't work that way. Changing the past doesn't change the future." Simmons added.

"Look, we go back, we get the stones before Thanos gets them, Thanos doesn't have the stones. Problem solved." Scott said.

"Bingo." Clint nodded.

"That's not how it works." Nebula pointed out.

"Well, that's what I heard." Clint said.

"Wait, but who? Who told you that?" Bruce inquired.

"_Star Trek_, _Terminator_, _Timecop_, _Time After Time_…" Rhodey listed.

"_Quantum Leap._" Scott added.

"_Wrinkle in Time_, _Somewhere in Time_."

"_Hot Tub Time Machine_."

"_Hot Tub Time Machine_. _Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure_. Basically, any movie that deals with time travel." Rhodey finished.

"_Die Hard_. No, that's not one." Scott corrected himself.

"This is known." Rhodey said.

"Look, as someone who's time-travelled, I'm gonna tell you right now that this is not true. Me and Fitz have a grandson from the future or… had…" Simmons sighed, remembering Deke. "…who could've blinked out of existence anytime we almost died but did not."

Bruce nodded as he turned to Simmons before turning to Rhodey and Scott again. "Think about it. If you travel to the past, that past becomes your future and your former present becomes the past which can't now be changed by your new future."

"Changing our past will not affect our present, it will only create an alternate timeline, different from ours, while ours still exists, intact from the changes in the past, since we only create alternate timelines and not change our own." Simmons elaborated.

"Exactly." Nebula nodded.

"So _Back to the Future_ is a bunch of bullshit?" Scott realized, disappointed.

"Damn it." Logan sighed.

* * *

Clint was on the time machine platform as they started to run the test and Bruce typed in some commands on the console. "All right, Clint. We're going in three, two, one…"

* * *

Clint shrunk, sucked into the quantum realm and flying through time until he ended up in the past, back in his homestead as he pulled out his helmet, panting out and looking around for his family. He then watched his home and approached it, seeing Cooper's baseball glove on the ground, remembering it was his favorite as his eyes got wet.

"_Cooper?_" Lila called out from inside the house and Clint looked up, never expecting to hear her voice again. "_Where are my headphones?_"

"Lila?" Clint said as he got up.

"_I never had them._" Cooper protested.

"Lila?" Clint said brokenly as his watch bleeped.

"_Yeah, you had them yesterday!_" Lila argued.

"Lila! Lila!" Clint burst in, wanting to see his children again but then he shrunk, pulling back into the present.

Lila went downstairs, looking around. "Yeah, Dad?" She then looked confused, wondering if she had imagined Clint's voice as she looked around. "Dad?"

* * *

Clint ended up back in the present in New Avengers facility as he fell down onto the platform. "Lila!"

Clint grunted and breathed out as Natasha neared him and helped him get up. "Hey, hey. Look at me. You OK?"

"Yeah. Yeah." Clint panted out and nodded, glad that the plan worked. "It worked." He turned to Tony and threw him the baseball glove as Tony caught it.

* * *

"OK, so the 'how' works." Steve said as they started to brainstorm and pinpoint where in time could they find the Infinity Stones. "Now we gotta figure out the 'when' and the 'where'. Almost everyone in this room has had an encounter with at least one of the six Infinity Stones."

"Or substitute the word 'encounter' for 'damn near been killed' by one of the Infinity Stones." Tony said.

"Well, I haven't but I don't even know what the hell you're all talking about." Scott said.

"Regardless, we only have enough Pym Particles for one round-trip each. And these stones have been in a lot of places throughout history." Bruce said.

"Our history." Tony nodded. "So, not a lot of convenient spots to just drop in, yeah?"

"Which means we have to pick our targets." Clint explained.

"Correct." Tony nodded.

"So, let's start with the Aether. Thor, what do you know?" Steve said as they turned to Thor.

"Well, firstly, Aether is not a stone exactly, it's more like…" Thor paused, trying to remember. "Everchanging form of fluid turning matter into dark matter and it needs to be contained into a container or in a host. I think we can find something that might contain it." He shivered, remembering what it did to Jane.

"I know something that can help." Rocket nodded before they focused on more stones. "Quill said he stole the Power Stone from Morag."

"Is that a person?" Bruce inquired.

"No, Morag's a planet." Rocket corrected. "Quill was a person."

"Like a planet? Like in outer space?" Scott asked, disbelieved as Rocket turned to him, humored.

"Oh, look. It's like a little puppy, all happy and everything." Rocket fondled Scott's hair as Scott looked annoyed. "Do you wanna go to space? You wanna go to space, puppy? I'll take you to space."

"Thanos found the Soul Stone on Vormir." Nebula explained.

"What is Vormir?" Natasha asked.

"A dominion of death at the very center of celestial existence." Nebula explained as they saw the sad look in her eyes. "It's where Thanos murdered my sister."

Everyone felt sympathy for her as Steve sighed.

"Not it." Scott said, not wanting to go there.

"That Time Stone guy." Natasha said.

"Doctor Strange." Bruce said.

"Yeah, what kind of doctor was he?" Natasha wondered.

"Ear-nose-throat meets rabbit-from-hat." Tony said.

"Nice place in the Village, though." Bruce said.

"Yeah, on Sullivan Street?" Tony tried to remember.

"Mm… Bleecker Street." Bruce remembered.

"Wait, he lived in New York?" Natasha asked.

"No, he lived in Toronto." Tony corrected.

"Uh, yeah, on Bleecker and Sullivan." Bruce said.

"Have you been listening to anything?" Tony snapped.

"Guys. If you pick the right year, there are three stones in New York or two on Asgard." Natasha pointed out.

"Shut the front door." Bruce said as the realization hit them all.

"Wait, wait, you remember how you went onto the rampage after that, when you had to go downstairs and Loki tried to steal the Tesseract again?" Tony remembered and Bruce winced. "I mean, things could get out of hand and we might lose them and lose our shot."

"So, what's the plan?" Natasha asked.

"Well, if this doesn't work, we're gonna need more Pym Particles and I think I might know where we can get them _and_ the Tesseract." Tony said.

* * *

"Alright, we have a plan." Steve said. "Six stones, four teams, one shot." Steve, Scott, Rocket, Nebula, Bobbi, Hunter, Thor, Tony, Rhodey and Bruce put on their suits and entered the platform. "Five years ago we lost. All of us. We lost friends. We lost family. We lost a part of ourselves.

Today we have a chance to take it all back. You know your teams. You know your missions. Get the stones. Get back. One round-trip each. No mistakes, no do-overs.

Most of us are going somewhere we know. That doesn't mean we should know what to expect. Be careful. Look out for each other. This is the fight of our lives and we're gonna win. Whatever it takes. Good luck."

"He's pretty good at that." Rocket said.

"Right?" Scott smiled.

"All right. You heard the man. Stroke those keys, Jolly Green." Tony ordered.

"Tractors engaged." Bruce said as Bobbi held in her hand miniaturized Benatar.

"You promise to bring that back in one piece, right?" Rocket asked.

"Sure." Hunter nodded.

"See ya in a minute." Bobbi teased as Bruce typed in some commands as the time machine turned on and the team put on their helmets, sucked into the quantum tunnel.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As amusing as was Hulk going downstairs and knocking Tony down as he lost the Tesseract, in the context of the film, it's a little weird they did not think to steal the Space Stone from Asgard alongside the Reality Stone.
> 
> So, what do you guys think?
> 
> Please review and let me know if you have been enjoying this and want for me to continue.


	8. Time Heist

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The heroes travel throughout time to retrieve the Infinity Stones, with one group facing a deadly setback and another group having to make a devastating sacrifice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything in Marvel Cinematic Universe.

* * *

The teams dove through the quantum realm as everyone ended up in times they intended to be.

* * *

_ **2012, New York** _

The invasion of Chitauri had begun as the Avengers from 2012 were engaging them, while Bruce and Scott ended up in an alley.

"So, one stone in Greenwich Village, another stone in Stark Tower." Scott said as Bruce nodded.

"Yeah but if I remember, it was quite ugly back there, so it would be better if you took just the Mind Stone, Tony and Steve are already taking the Tesseract." Bruce said. "Once I get the Time Stone from Strange, we'll meet back here."

"Got it." Scott said before he and Bruce saw 2012 Hulk grab a car and smash one of the Chitauri with it before 2012 Hulk roared, stomping on the car before running down the street as Bruce put his hand on his forehead in frustration. "And maybe smash few things along the way."

"I think it's gratuitous but whatever." Bruce muttered before he ripped off his top and while not liking it, he let lout soft roars and gently smashed already destroyed cars.

* * *

In Greenwich Village, Ancient One was fending off the Chitauri as Bruce leapt on the rooftop and was about to enter, when Ancient One stopped him. "I'd be careful going that way. We just had the floors waxed."

Bruce turned to her. "Yeah, I'm looking for Doctor Strange."

"You're about five years too early." Ancient One said. "Stephen Strange is currently performing surgery about 20 blocks that way." She pointed towards the city before turning to Bruce again. "What do you want from him?"

"That, actually." Bruce pointe at the Eye of Agamotto around her neck.

"Ah! I'm afraid not." Ancient One shook her head.

"Sorry, but I wasn't asking." Bruce said, about to reach for the Eye of Agamotto.

"You don't want to do this." Ancient One warned.

"Ah, you're right, I don't. But I need that stone and I don't have time to debate it..." Bruce was about to take the Stone, when the Ancient One slapped him in the chest and suddenly, Bruce grunted as he fell down, unconscious, while his astral form flew out from his body.

"Let's start over, shall we?" Ancient One said.

* * *

_ **2013, Asgard** _

Thor and Rocket snuck past Loki's cell as they went towards the corridors, watching Thor's former lover Jane with one of the maidens before she entered her room.

"Oh, there's Jane." Thor said, reminiscing.

"All right. Here's the deal. You're gonna charm her and I'm gonna poke her with this thing and extract the Reality Stone and get gone lickety-split." Rocket said, showing his extraction device.

Thor took a breath, not sure if he could face Jane again, considering how angry she was before he took cover behind a pillar and saw his mother Frigga walk down the hall towards the dungeons, where Loki was.

"Who's the fancy broad?" Rocket asked.

"That's my mother." Thor said, remembering what day it was. "She dies today."

"Oh, that is today?" Rocket said, feeling sympathy for Thor, who felt his eyes get wet as he breathed out, not sure if he could go through it.

"No, no, I can't do it, I can't-" Thor panicked.

Rocket smacked Thor on his cheek as Thor got ahold of himself. "You think you're the only one who lost people? What do you think we're doing here?" Thor wiped his eyes. "I lost the only family I ever had." Rocket snapped, remembering his fellow Guardians dying because of Thanos.

"Quill, Groot, Drax, the chick with the antenna, all gone. I get you miss your mom but she's gone. Really gone. And there are plenty of people who are only kind of gone and you can help them. So, is it too much to ask that you that you brush the crumbs out of your beard, make schmoopy talk to Pretty Pants and when she's not looking, suck out the Infinity Stone and help me get my family back?"

Thor took a breath and nodded as he exhaled deeply.

* * *

_ **2014, Morag** _

Benatar dropped down a shuttle as Rhodey and Nebula piloted the ship.

"Alright, bring it down, Blue. Right on that line. That's it. Down, down." Rhodey said as Bobbi and Hunter landed on the ground.

"Hey, we're kind of on the clock here." Bobbi said.

"We should hurry, mate." Hunter nodded.

"All that is really helpful." Rhodey snapped before Bobbi and Hunter hugged him.

"Take care, Rhodey." Bobbi said.

"Get that stone and come back. No messing around." Rhodey said.

"See you when we get back." Hunter said as he and Bobbi walked back to the ship.

"You guys watch each other's six." Rhodey said as the Benatar took off.

"Coordinates for Vormir are laid in." Nebula said. "All they have to do is not fall out."

* * *

"Who would've thought that from fighting rogue agents we'd come to this?" Hunter teased as Bobbi chuckled, while flying in the Benatar through space.

* * *

Rhodey and Nebula were back on Morag, looking around.

"OK, so, we just wait around for this Quill guy to show up and then he leads us to the Power Stone, is that it?" Rhodey asked.

"Let's take cover." Nebula ordered as she looked around. "We're not the only ones in 2014 looking for the stones."

"Wait a minute. What are you talking about right now?" Rhodey inquired, confused. "Who else is looking for these stones?"

Nebula turned to Rhodey with a grim look on her face. "My father, my sister and me."

"And you? Where are you right now?" Rhodey wondered.

* * *

_ **Sanctuary II** _

After fighting some aliens, 2014 Nebula and Gamora were onboard Thanos's warship, locating the Power Stone on Morag as Thanos entered.

"Rona's located the Power Stone." Thanos said. "I'm dispatching you to his ship."

"He won't like that." Gamora pointed out.

"His alternative is death." Thanos said, not caring for his ally's demands as he wiped the blood off his double-edged sword. "Ronan's obsession clouds his judgement."

2014 Nebula bowed before Thanos. "We will not fail you, Father."

"No, you won't." Thanos said, not planning to accept failure from his daughters, who were his best soldiers.

2014 Nebula looked at Thanos as she got up. "I swear, I will make you proud."

Suddenly, the plate covering her left eye and temple sparkled as she groaned as she fell down. Gamora tended to her before 2014 Nebula's eye showed a hologram of Rhodey on Morag, planning with present Nebula as everyone seemed confused before the hologram turned off and 2014 Nebula groaned in pain, holding her head.

"Who was that?" Gamora asked.

"I don't know." 2014 Nebula gasped. "My head is splitting. I don't know."

"Her synaptic drive was probably damaged in the battle." Gamora pointed out as she got up, not wanting Thanos to hurt Nebula.

"Shh." Thanos whispered, nearing them as he pointed his sword at 2014 Nebula, who trembled in fear. "Bring her to my ship."

* * *

_ **2012, New York** _

Scott watched the events in Stark Tower as the 2012 Avengers surrounded subdued Loki on the top floor and were taking a drink before Sitwell, Rumlow and S.T.R.I.K.E. team entered, confiscating the Tesseract and Loki's scepter as Scott remembered from Steve that they were actually HYDRA sleeper agents.

The 2012 Avengers were restraining and subduing Loki as agents Sitwell, Rumlow and the S.T.R.I.K.E. team entered, about to clean everything up and take the evidence and putting Loki's scepter with the Mind Stone and the Tesseract with the Space Stone into the case as Scott got on Rumlow, waiting for an opportunity to steal Loki's scepter as he was in the elevator with Rumlow's men, waiting for an opening as the Avengers entered the elevator with Loki and the agents.

"Move." Hulk ordered as he tried to enter but Thor and Tony stopped him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Thor interrupted.

"Hey, hey. Buddy!" Tony said. "What do you think? Maximum occupancy has been reached."

"Take the stairs." Thor said as Hulk growled.

"Yeah. Stop, stop." Tony said, seeing Hulk's angry look as he slammed his fist into the closed door, roaring.

"'_Take the stairs._' Hate the stairs." Hulk grumbled, grunting as he walked down the stairwell. "So many stairs!"

* * *

The group went out from the lobby as Thor and Tony faced Secretary Alexander Pierce.

"Uh, may I ask you where you're going?" Pierce asked.

"Bit of lunch and then Asgard. I'm sorry, you are…?" Thor paused, not recognizing him.

"Alexander Pierce." Tony explained. "He's the man above the folks behind Nick Fury."

"Oh." Thor said in realization.

"My friends call me 'Mr. Secretary'." Pierce said. "I'm gonna have to ask you to turn that prisoner over to me."

Scott waited for an opening, wondering if he should steal both Stones but his priority was Loki's scepter with the Mind Stone as he watched Thor, Tony and Pierce argue as Pierce and his men attempted to take the case with the Tesseract before Hulk burst in from downstairs.

"No stairs!" Hulk roared as people panicked, while he punched the nearby wall.

Scott used the opening to knock the case with Loki's scepter from Rumlow's hand as everyone attempted to calm down the Hulk and used his time machine to return to the present.

* * *

_ **Greenwich Village** _

"Please. Please." Bruce begged Ancient One.

"I'm sorry, I can't help you, Bruce." Ancient One said as Bruce followed her in his astral form. "If I give up the Time Stone to help your reality, I'm dooming my own."

"With all due respect, all right, I'm not sure the science really supports that." Bruce said, facing her as she was about to go downstairs.

Ancient One enchanted a golden line, showing it to Bruce as the line was surrounded by the Infinity Stones. "The Infinity Stones create what you experience as the flow of time. Remove one of the stones…" She moved away the Time Stone as a black line branched out from the golden line. "…and that flow splits. Now, this may benefit your reality but my new one, not so much. In this new branch reality, without our chief weapon against the forces of darkness, our world would be overrun. Millions will suffer. So tell me, Doctor. Can your science prevent all that?"

"No but we can erase it." Bruce argued. "Because once we're done with the stones, we can return each to its own timeline at the moment it was taken. So, chronologically, in that reality, it never left." He put the Time Stone back to complete the circle the other Infinity Stones were creating as the black branch faded away.

"Yes, but leaving out the most important part." Ancient One said as she walked towards the edge of the rooftop before facing Bruce. "In order to return the stones, you have to survive."

"We will. I will. I promise." Bruce pleaded.

"I can't risk this reality on a promise." Ancient One argued. "It's the duty of the Sorcerer Supreme to protect the Time Stone."

"Then why the hell did Strange give it away?" Bruce snapped as Ancient One looked completely shocked.

"What did you say?" Ancient One asked, hoping she had misheard Bruce.

"Strange. He gave it away. He gave it to Thanos." Bruce explained.

"Willingly?" Ancient One inquired.

"Yes." Bruce nodded and Ancient One took a moment to absorb the stunning revelation.

"Why?" Ancient One wondered.

"I have no idea. Maybe he made a mistake." Bruce said as Ancient One neared him, realizing what has happened and what she needed to do.

"Or I did." Ancient One said before she put Bruce's astral form back into his body and she opened the Eye of Agamotto and handed it to Bruce. "Strange is meant to be the best of us." She explained, realizing Strange had a good reason for what he did.

"So, he must've done it for a reason." Bruce realized where she was going with this.

"I fear you might be right." Ancient One nodded.

Bruce sighed as he held in his hand the Time Stone. "Thank you."

Ancient One neared him and held his hands with an imploring look in her eyes. "I'm counting on you, Bruce. We all are."

* * *

_ **2014, Sanctuary II** _

Some cable was plugged into 2014 Nebula's back of her head as Ebony Maw and Thanos were examining her memory.

"Run diagnostics." Thanos ordered. "Show me her memory file."

"Sire, the file appears to be entangled." Ebony Maw explained. "It was a memory, but not hers. There's another consciousness sharing her network. Another Nebula."

"Impossible." Thanos said, not believing it.

"This duplicate carries a time stamp from nine years in the future." Ebony Maw explained.

"Where is this other Nebula?" Thanos asked.

"In our solar system on Morag." Ebony Maw said.

"Can you access her?" Thanos requested.

"Yes, the two are linked." Ebony Maw replied.

"Search the duplicate's memories for Infinity Stones." Thanos ordered.

Suddenly, Nebula's eye glowed, showing the hologram recording of the Avengers brainstorming regarding the Infinity Stones.

"Freeze image." Thanos said.

"Terrans." Gamora said, recognizing them.

"Avengers." Thanos realized, recognizing the people, who had defeated Loki and the Chitauri forces Thanos had lent him. "Unruly wretches. What's that reflection? Amplify this, Maw." He pointed towards Nebula's reflection in the glass.

Ebony Maw did as ordered as they saw Nebula among the Avengers.

"I don't understand. Two Nebulas." Gamora said, confused.

"No. The same Nebula from two different times." Thanos corrected, realizing what happened and wondering how it was possible. "Set course for Morag. And scan the duplicate's memories. I wanna see everything." He ordered to Ebony Maw.

* * *

_ **2013, Asgard** _

Frigga walked down the halls with her friends before she stopped, ordering them to move along, sensing someone was intruding before facing Thor, who looked shocked as he screamed and gasped as Frigga screamed too.

"Oh, God! You're better off leaving the sneaking to your brother." Frigga said.

"No, I wasn't sneaking. I was just going for a walk." Thor corrected as Frigga looked closely.

"What are you wearing?" Frigga asked, seeing that Thor was wearing a jacket and not the classical Asgardian robes.

"Well, I…" Thor paused as she touched him on his cheek and Thor's emotions took over, sadness and happiness and more mixed emotions flooding through him as Frigga looked closely.

"What's wrong with your eye?" Frigga asked.

"Oh, my eye." Thor quickly attempted to come up with an excuse. "Remember the, uh, Battle of Harokin when I got hit in the face with the broadsword?"

Frigga touched his cheek, seeing through his excuse. "You're not the Thor I know at all, are you?"

"Yes, I am." Thor lied.

"The future hasn't been kind to you, has it?" Frigga asked, realization dawning onto her.

"I didn't say I was from the future." Thor denied.

"I was raised by witches, boy." Frigga reminded as Thor breathed out, trying to get ahold of himself. "I see with more than eyes, you know that."

Thor breathed out, not being able to hold back his emotions anymore. "Yeah, I'm totally from the future." He said with his voice breaking and eyes getting wet.

"Yes, you are, honey." Frigga nodded.

"I really need to talk to you." Thor said.

"We can talk." Frigga nodded as they hugged each other.

* * *

Jane woke up in her bedroom as Rocket was sneaking up on her, about to extract Aether from her.

* * *

"His head was over there… and his body over there…" Thor scoffed as he sat down as he talked about Thanos. "What was the point? I was too late. I was just standing there. Some idiot with an axe."

"Now, you're no idiot. You're here, aren't you?" Frigga pointed out. "Seeking counsel from the wisest person in Asgard."

"I am. Yes." Thor said.

"Idiot, no. A failure? Absolutely." Frigga said.

"That's a little bit harsh." Thor argued.

"Do you know what that makes you?" Frigga asked as she sat next to him. "Just like everyone else."

"I'm not supposed to be like everyone else, am I?" Thor argued.

"Mm." Frigga shook her head, fondling Thor's hair. "Everyone fails at who they're supposed to be, Thor. The measure of a person, of a hero, is how well they succeed at being who they are."

Thor sighed as he turned to her. "I've really missed you, Mom."

* * *

Rocket was running down the hall with the Reality Stone in the container unit. "Thor! I got it!"

"Get that rabbit!" One of the guards ordered as they chased Rocket.

* * *

"Mom, I have to tell you something." Thor said.

"No, son, you don't. You're here to repair your future, not mine." Frigga said.

"This is about your future." Thor pointed out, not wanting to let her die, despite that it would not affect his own timeline.

"Uh, it's none of my business." Frigga said as Rocket burst in, panting out, with the Reality Stone.

"Hi. You must be Mom." Rocket said as Frigga waved her hand at him and he showed Thor the Reality Stone. "I got the thing. Come on. We gotta move."

"Oh, I wish we had more time." Thor turned to Frigga.

"No, this was a gift." Frigga held Thor's hands. "Now you go and be the man you're meant to be."

"I love you, Mom." Thor said.

"I love you." Frigga said as they embraced each other.

"Come on, we gotta go." Rocket said, setting the coordinates.

"Goodbye." Frigga said.

Rocket was counting down before Thor stopped him and stretched his hand. "No, wait!"

"What am I looking at?" Rocket asked, confused.

"Oh, sometimes it takes a second." Frigga said before Thor's hammer Mjolnir flew towards his hand and Thor grunted before laughing, glad that he was still worthy of wielding his hammer.

"I'm still worthy." Thor said.

"Oh, boy." Rocket said.

"Goodbye, Mom." Thor turned to Frigga, giving her one last smile.

"Goodbye." Frigga mouthed before Thor and Rocket returned to the present.

* * *

** _2014, Morag_ **

Nebula and Rhodey watched Quill dancing as he walked towards the temple and singing to "_Come and Get Your Love_" from Redbone, while listening to his Walkman as Nebula and Rhodey looked at him incredulously.

"So, he's an idiot?" Rhodey asked, having a hard time believing the kind of man Quill was, considering the stories Nebula and Rocket have told him about Quill.

"Yeah." Nebula said before Rhodey knocked Quill out and Nebula picked some device that looked like a stick.

"What's that?" Rhodey asked.

"The tool of a thief." Nebula explained as she used it to open the door to the tomb but Rhodey stopped her before she could enter.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. This is the part where the spikes come out with skeletons on the end of them and everything." Rhodey said.

"What are you talking about?" Nebula demanded.

"When you break into a place called "The Temple of the Power Stone", there's gonna be a bunch of booby traps." Rhodey said.

"Oh, my God." Nebula sighed at how superstitious Rhodey was as she entered.

"Okay. All right. Go ahead." Rhodey muttered as they saw the orb with the Power Stone floating in some kind of an energy case. Nebula reached for it with her metal arm as it burned before she picked the orb and handed it to Rhodey, while blowing off the burns on her arm as Rhodey eyed her cautiously.

"I wasn't always like this." Nebula explained.

"Me either." Rhodey said, feeling some sympathy for her as he looked at his War Machine armor as Nebula looked at him. "But we work with what we got, right?" Nebula nodded as they were about to return to the present and put on their time travel suits. "Let's sync up. Three, two, one."

Rhodey returned to the present but Nebula was unable to, due to her cybernetic implants suddenly interlinked with her 2014 self as she grunted and froze and groaned in pain.

* * *

_ **Sanctuary II** _

Thanos and Gamora were watching the footage from the future in 2014 Nebula's memory banks.

_"You murdered trillions!" Bruce said._

_"You should be grateful." Thanos said, with burned face._

_"Where are the stones?" Natasha asked._

_"Gone." Thanos said. "Reduced to atoms."_

_"You used them two days ago!" Bruce pointed out._

_"I used the stones to destroy the stones. It nearly killed me." Thanos said._

Gamora was shocked at what he had done.

_"But the work is done. It always will be. I am inevitable."_

"What did you do to them?" Gamora asked.

"Nothing." Thanos replied. "Yet. They're not trying to stop something I'm going to do in our time. They're trying to undo something I've already done in theirs."

"The stones." Gamora realized that Thanos had succeeded in the future.

"I found them all." Thanos realized. "I won. Tipped the cosmic scales to balance." He said, caressing Gamora's chin as she knelt down.

"This is your future." Ebony Maw said.

"It's my destiny." Thanos agreed as Ebony Maw continued the recording.

_"My father is many things. A liar is not one of them." Nebula said._

_"Ah. Thank you, daughter. Perhaps I treated you too harshly-" Thanos stopped as Thor cleaved his head off, grunting._

Gamora was shocked by witnessing her father's death with her own eyes.

"And that is destiny fulfilled." Thanos said.

"Sire… your daughter…" Ebony Maw wrapped a chain around 2014 Nebula's neck.

"No!" Nebula choked out.

"…is a traitor." Ebony Maw finished.

"That's not me. It's not, I could never… I would never betray you." 2014 Nebula protested, choking out. "Never. Never..."

Thanos neared 2014 Nebula, removing the chain from her neck as she took a breath, while he held her head. "I know. And you'll have the chance to prove it."

* * *

_ **Morag** _

Nebula came to, moaning as the eye turned off and she breathed out in horror, realizing that Thanos had accessed her memories. "No! He knows!"

She rushed back to the ship, trying to call out as she picked the mic. "Hunter! Hunter, come in. Morse! Come in, we have a problem." Nebula banged the mic desperately. "Come in, we have a… Thanos knows. Thanos…" She paused and paled, when she saw Sanctuary II fly above her and using a tractor beam to suck her ship in.

* * *

_ **1970, Camp Lehigh, New Jersey** _

"Hey, man! Make love, not war!" A young man with grey hair and a mustache called out, driving his sport car down the camp as a woman on the passenger seat cheered.

"Clearly you weren't actually born here, right?" Tony pointed out, wearing a suit as he saw the sign "THE BIRTHPLACE OF CAPTAIN AMERICA".

"The idea of me was." Steve said, disguised as one of the camp soldiers and lowering his cap so that no one would see his face and recognize him.

"Right. Well, imagine you're S.H.I.E.L.D., running a quasi-fascistic intelligence organization, where do you hide it?" Tony wondered.

"In plain sight." Steve said, remembering where he and Natasha had found the computer containing Zola's A.I. as they saw the weapons depot in front of them. Tony turned on infrared on his glasses as he saw the underground complex beneath the camp as he and Steve entered the elevator and Tony had to step up to cover Steve's face, so that no one would recognize him.

The elevator opened as Tony went out. "Good luck on your mission, Captain."

"Good luck on your project, Doctor." Steve said as the door closed.

"You new here?" The woman in the elevator with Steve asked.

"Not exactly." Steve admitted as the woman nodded, wondering if he looked familiar.

* * *

Tony walked down the hall, where was Zola's A.I. in databanks, looking for the Tesseract's energy signature before he found the chamber in which it was contained.

"Gotcha." Tony said as he picked a briefcase and used his nano-gauntlet to burn the lock and opened the container with the Tesseract. "Back in the game." Tony picked it and put it in the briefcase before he heard a familiar voice.

"Arnim, are you in there? Arnim?" Howard called out and Tony closed the case before Howard would catch him steal the Tesseract, looking at his own father in surprise but Tony turned around, not wanting to face the pain and grief. "Hey!" Howard said before Tony could leave. "The door is this way, pal."

Tony faced Howard. "Oh, yeah."

"Looking for Doctor Zola, have you seen him?" Howard inquired.

"Yeah, Doctor Zola. No, I haven't seen a soul." Tony stammered as he accidentally knocked the case into the chair. "Pardon me."

"Do I know you?" Howard asked, not helping himself but having a feeling that Tony seemed familiar as he had in his hand a bouquet of flowers.

"No, sir. Uh… I'm a visitor from MIT." Tony lied, showing his badge.

"Oh. MIT." Howard said. "Got a name?"

"Howard." Tony said quickly.

"That'll be easy to remember." Howard quipped.

"Howard… Potts." Tony said.

"Well, I'm Howard Stark." Howard introduced himself, shaking his hand with Tony, offering his finger. "Shake it, don't pull it." Howard then looked at Tony closely. "You look a little green around the gills, there, Potts."

"I'm fine. Just long hours." Tony replied.

"You wanna get some air?" Howard offered as Tony was too stunned to reply. "Hello, Potts."

"Yeah." Tony said, coming to his senses. "That'll be swell."

"That way." Howard said.

"Okay." Tony nodded.

"Need your briefcase?" Howard reminded as Tony was about to leave as Howard handed it to him. "You're not one of those beatniks, are you, Potts?"

* * *

In his lab, young Hank Pym was working before his phone rang as he answered it. "Hello?"

"_Doctor Pym?_" Steve asked.

"That would be the number that you called, yes." Hank said.

"_This is Captain Stevens from shipping._" Steve said. "_We have a package for you._"

"Oh, bring it up." Hank said, taking a sip from his mug.

"_That's the thing, sir, we can't._" Steve said as Hank looked confused.

"I'm confused. I thought that was your job."

"_Well, it's just… Sir, the box is glowing and to be honest, some of our mail guys aren't feeling that great._"

Hank paled, hoping his suspicions were wrong. "They didn't open it, did they?"

"_Uh, yeah, they did. You better get down here._" Steve said as Hank hung up and burst out from his office.

"Excuse me! Out of the way!" Hank yelled, running down the corridor as Steve went out from the room where he was hiding and entered Hank's lab, taking some vials of Pym particles.

* * *

"So, flowers and sauerkraut. You got a big date tonight?" Tony asked as he entered the elevator with Howard.

"Uh, my wife's expecting." Howard explained. "And too much time at the office."

"Congratulations." Tony said as Howard handed him the bouquet.

"Thanks. Hold this, will ya?" Howard said.

"Yeah, sure." Tony nodded, holding Howard's flowers as Howard was readjusting his suit and tie. "How far along is she?"

"Uh, I don't know. She's at the point where she can't stand the sound of my chewing." Howard said as Tony chuckled. "I guess I'll be eating dinner in the pantry again."

"I have a little girl." Tony said.

"A girl would be nice. Less of a chance she'd turn out exactly like me." Howard said.

"What'd be so awful about that?" Tony wondered, curious why Howard would not want his own child to become like him.

"Let's just say that the greater good has rarely outweighed my own self-interest." Howard said, remembering his own fallout with Peggy, when she found out he had kept a sample of Steve's blood as Tony winced at his own failures during his arms dealing days.

* * *

Steve walked down the corridor and hid in an office, when the woman he had met earlier in the elevator walked down the corridor with the military police officers, knowing there was something suspicious about Tony and Steve, realizing they were intruders.

As they passed by the office, Steve was about to leave before he saw a photo of himself on the desk before he had been injected with the Super Soldier serum, small, slim and scrawny before he looked at the sign on the door window to realize that he was in the office of his former lover Peggy, who was the director of SSR in this time.

Steve then looked through the window to see Peggy, who has aged a bit but still looked the same as Steve looked saddened, wanting to see her but he did not want to risk bringing her more pain than she had already been through as Peggy left her colleague's office.

* * *

"So, where are you at the names?" Tony asked Howard as they were outside.

"Well, if it's a boy, my wife likes Elmonzo." Howard said.

"Huh. Might wanna let that stew awhile. You got time." Tony said, not wanting to imagine live with such name.

"Let me ask you a question." Howard said as Tony turned to him. "When your kid was born, were you nervous?"

"Wildly." Tony admitted as Howard sighed. "Yeah."

"Did you feel qualified?" Howard asked. "Like you had any idea how to successfully operate that thing?"

"I literally pieced it together as I went along." Tony admitted before seeing Steve, who was signaling him to leave. "I thought about what my dad did."

"My old man, he never met a problem he couldn't solve with a belt." Howard said as Tony winced at the reminder.

"I thought my dad was tough on me. And now, looking back on it, I just remember the good stuff. You know? He did drop the odd pearl." Tony replied.

"Yeah? Like what?" Howard asked, curious.

"_No amount of money ever bought a second of time._" Tony cited.

"Smart guy." Howard nodded.

"He did his best." Tony said, sad that he never had the chance to make amends with his father and now he had it, with Howard having no idea who was he talking to.

"I'll tell you, that kid's not even here yet and there's nothing I wouldn't do for him." Howard said as he was about to walk away.

Steve lifted his head as Tony showed the briefcase with the Tesseract as Steve nodded.

"Good to meet you, Potts." Howard shook his hand with Tony.

"Yeah." Tony said as he neared his father. "Howard, everything's gonna be all right." Tony hugged Howard, who seemed confused. "Thank you for everything you've done for this country."

Howard approached his butler and chauffer Edwin Jarvis at his car and handed him the bouquet, wondering what was so familiar about Tony as he looked at him. "Have we ever met that guy?"

"You meet a lot of people, sir." Jarvis said.

"Seems very familiar. Weird beard." Howard said as he entered the limo.

* * *

_ **2014, Sanctuary II** _

"You're weak." 2014 Nebula said, knocking Nebula down.

"I'm you." Nebula replied as 2014 Nebula walked away as Gamora entered.

"You could stop this." Nebula pleaded. "You know you want to. Did you see what happens in the future? Thanos finds the Soul Stone. You wanna know how he does that? You wanna know what he does to you?" Gamora's face hinted nothing as she listened to her sister's future self.

"That's enough." 2014 Nebula said, kicking Nebula in the head, knocking her back and pulling out a knife. "You disgust me. But that doesn't mean you're useless." She removed the plate from Nebula's head above her left eye and put it on her own head.

* * *

2014 Nebula handed Thanos the vial with Pym Particles as he smiled at seeing his daughter's disguise, executing his plan.

* * *

_ **Vormir** _

Hunter and Bobbi flew the Benatar as they eyed the planet. "Bobbi… I usually don't admit it out loud but…"

"You're scared as hell? Yeah, so am I." Bobbi nodded.

* * *

Bobbi and Hunter landed on Vormir and walked down the desert onto the mountain. "I hope the rest had it just as bad." Bobbi said.

"Well…" Hunter paused as they heard a voice echo, that had a hint of darkness in it as in front of them appeared a figure in black cloak, floating in the air as Hunter pulled out his gun and Bobbi pulled out her battle staves.

"Welcome. Barbara. Daughter of Susan. Lance. Son of Gabriel." The Stonekeeper said as Bobbi and Hunter narrowed their eyes, nearing the figure.

"Who are you?" Hunter demanded.

"Consider me a guide to you and to all who seek the Soul Stone." The Stonekeeper said.

"Oh, jolly. Please, just tell us where to find it and then let us be on our merry way, will you?" Bobbi said.

"Oh, Liebchen, if only it were that easy." The Stonekeeper neared them, revealing his face as Bobbi and Hunter stared in disbelief.

"That's impossible…" Hunter said, sure that the Red Skull was dead.

* * *

The Stonekeeper accompanied Bobbi and Hunter to the cliff as they looked down. "What you seek lies in front of you." The Stonekeeper explained. "As does what you fear."

"The stone's down there." Bobbi realized.

"For one of you." The Stonekeeper said. "For the other… in order to take the Stone, you must lose that which you love. An everlasting exchange. A soul for a soul."

Hunter and Bobbi breathed out, hoping this was not true as they considered.

"Bobbi, this has to be a load of bollocks." Hunter said.

"No." Bobbi shook her head. "Think about it. Not many people know about our families and Thanos took the stone from here and left his own daughter behind. Quite convenient, don't you think?"

"Yeah." Hunter admitted.

"Whatever it takes." Bobbi reminded.

"Whatever it takes." Hunter nodded. "We didn't come this far to turn back now."

"If we don't take the stone, billions of people will be still gone. Our friends. Our families. There'll be no taking it all back." Bobbi said.

"You're right. And I think we both know who's gotta make that sacrifice." Hunter admitted as Bobbi nodded.

"Guess so." Bobbi said as they held each other's hands. "I love you."

"I love you too." Hunter said, kissing Bobbi as both of them felt their eyes get wet and suddenly, both of them rushed towards the edge before Hunter tackled Bobbi down. "Tell Fitz and everyone else that I'm sorry."

Bobbi rolled to switch positions with Hunter as she grunted. "Tell them yourself." She punched Hunter before rushing towards the edge but Hunter grabbed her by her leg as she fell down and groaned. She saw Hunter jump as Bobbi rushed at him and used her grapnel as they were hanging on the cliff as she held Hunter's hand.

"Damn it, Bob." Hunter snapped. "Let me go, please."

Bobbi grunted, struggling to hold them together on the line due to their combined weight.

"Hunter, please, don't do this…" Bobbi sobbed.

"It's alright, Bobbi. I'm fine with it." Hunter assured her. "I've made many mistakes in my past. Letting Hartley die, putting you and Andrew in danger, not being able to stop Ward… give me a chance to fix it."

"I messed it all up too. I shouldn't have trusted Gonzales. I'm so sorry for everything, please, don't do this." Bobbi begged as her tears fell onto Hunter's face.

"Goodbye, Bobbi." Hunter let go as he fell down.

"No!" Bobbi screamed as Hunter fell to his death, hitting the ground as she sobbed, seeing him bleed out. Then, the clouds above opened…

* * *

…and suddenly, Bobbi was in some pond, wondering what was going on as she panted out and sniffed, mourning her lover and sobbing before she realized that she was holding in her hand an orange stone. The Soul Stone.

* * *

_ **Present, 2023, New Avengers facility** _

Tony, Steve, Bruce, Thor, Scott, Rocket, Rhodey, Bobbi and 2014 Nebula in disguise ended up back in the present on the platform of the time machine as everyone removed their suits.

"Did we get them all?" Bruce asked.

"Are you telling me this actually worked?" Rhodey asked, disbelieved as he held in his hand the orb with the Power Stone before they saw how devastated Bobbi was.

"Bobbi? Are you OK?" Simmons asked as she and Fitz neared her.

"Where's Hunter?" Mack asked before they saw the look in her eyes, realizing what happened, mourning for their fallen colleague.

* * *

The Avengers, Bobbi, Fitz, Simmons, Mack and Daisy were outside, mourning.

"Did he have any family, asides from you?" Tony asked Bobbi.

"He had us." Mack said as Simmons, Fitz and Daisy were wiping their eyes.

"Why are you acting like he's dead? We have the stones, right?" Thor pointed out. "As long as we have the stones, Cap, we can bring him back. Isn't that right? So, stop this shit. We're the Avengers. Get it together."

"There's no bringing him back." Bobbi said brokenly.

"What's she…? What?" Thor asked, confused as he turned to Bobbi.

"A soul for a soul. That's the price for the Stone. There's no undoing that." Bobbi explained as Thor laughed.

"Look, I'm sorry, no offense but you're a very earthly being, OK? And we're talking about space magic. And '_can't_' seems very definitive. Don't you think?" Thor said.

"Look, that guy that looked like Red Skull or whatever he was… he told us there was no taking it back! How about you look him in the eye, huh?" Bobbi exploded.

"Bobbi…" Mack held her shoulders from behind, comforting her.

"He was a stubborn idiot until the very end. Had to be the hero, as usual." Bobbi said, sniffing.

"That sure sounds like him." Fitz said as Simmons sniffed, holding Fitz's shoulder.

"Threw away his own life for that stupid stone, when I wanted to do it." Bobbi sobbed as everyone took a few minutes to mourn for their friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now, I loved the "No stairs!" part, where Hulk knocked Tony down and Loki ended up stealing the Tesseract but like I said, some things could have been changed without such a big mess and they could've tried to steal the Pym particles in the past too for possible do-overs before Loki would steal the Tesseract.
> 
> And to the fans of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., I'm truly very sorry but I love Natasha and I was disappointed by her exit in MCU and I kept thinking about a fitting substitute and I thought that Bobbi and Hunter would fit and my mind has been going back and forth between who would sacrifice themselves for the Soul Stone and Bobbi and Hunter might have just as shady past as Natasha and I kept going back and forth between which one of them would die and I think that Bobbi's fierce loyalty can be compared to Clint's and Nat's and the same with Hunter, who, while he may be a selfish ass and put May's ex-husband Andrew at risk because of his revenge at Ward for Bobbi, he is loyal enough to seek redemption. I like Bobbi and Hunter too and I couldn't decide which one of them was going to die but frankly, it felt to me that Hunter has had stronger bond with the AoS characters than Bobbi, just like Natasha with the Avengers than Clint. And I couldn't find the names of Hunter's parents, so I just came up with the first name popping up in my head.
> 
> The other alternatives for the sacrifice were Jessica and Trish or Colleen and Davos but I don't think either of them could pilot a spaceship, plus Colleen and Davos were not exactly that close and I doubt Danny knows how to pilot.
> 
> RIP Lance Hunter, fellow agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and good friend, you shall be missed dearly.
> 
> And we're gonna move to my favorite part now.
> 
> So, what do you guys think?
> 
> Please review and let me know if you have been enjoying this and want for me to continue.


	9. Avengers Assemble!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The heroes attempt to reverse the Decimation, while 2014 Nebula summons Thanos from the past into the present to finish his job and when all hope seems lost, all heroes assemble together for one last stand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything in Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Fitz, Simmons, Bobbi and Mack were in their rooms, toasting and mourning for Hunter, when in the lab, Tony and Bruce were inserting the Stones into the slots of the Iron Gauntlet as Rocket observed when suddenly, Rocket could not help himself. "Boom!" Rocket suddenly shouted as Tony and Bruce shivered as they glared at Rocket, who chuckled mischievously.

* * *

"All right, the glove's ready." Rocket said. "Question is, who's gonna snap their freakin' fingers?"

"I'll do it." Thor stepped up.

"Excuse me?" Tony asked, hoping he had misheard Thor.

"It's okay."

"Stop, stop. Slow down." Tony said as he and Steve stopped Thor.

"Thor. Just wait." Steve said. "We haven't decided who's gonna put that on yet."

"I'm sorry. What, we're all just sitting around waiting for the right opportunity?" Thor demanded incredulously.

"We should at least discuss it." Scott agreed.

"Look, sitting here staring at that thing is not gonna bring everybody back. I'm the strongest Avenger, okay? So, this responsibility falls upon me. It's my duty." Thor said.

"I survived a nuclear bomb, so I think I can handle it." Logan said.

"Normally, you're right. It's not about that." Tony intervened.

"It's not that." Thor continued.

"Hey, buddy…"

"Stop it! Just let me… just let me do it." Thor begged. "Just let me do something good. Something right."

"Look, it's not just the fact that that glove is channeling enough energy to light up a continent. I'm telling you. You're in no condition." Tony said before turning to Logan. "And I know that you can heal quickly but the radiation coming through it, I doubt you can survive it, it's worse than a nuclear bomb."

"What do you think is coursing through my veins right now?" Thor asked. "Lightning."

"Yeah." Tony nodded.

"Lightning." Thor said.

"Lightning won't help you, pal." Bruce said. "It's gotta be me. You saw what those stones did to Thanos. They almost killed him. None of you could survive."

"How do we know you will?" Steve asked.

"We don't. But the radiation's mostly gamma. It's like… I was made for this." Bruce pointed out.

* * *

Unknown to everyone, 2014 Nebula approached the time machine and hacked the console and opening the portal for Thanos and his army as she was starting to program the coordinates.

* * *

"Good to go, yeah?" Tony asked.

"Let's do it." Bruce said.

"OK, remember, everyone Thanos snapped away five years ago, you're just bringing them back to now, today. Don't change anything from the last five years." Tony said.

"Got it." Bruce said, putting on the Iron Gauntlet as Scott and Rhodey put on their helmets and Tony put on his suit and created a holographic shield protecting him, Logan, Clint and Natasha, while Rocket put on his glasses.

"_FRIDAY, do me a favor and activate Barn Door Protocol, will ya?_" Tony requested.

"_Yes, boss._" FRIDAY said as the doors and windows in the facility were suddenly covered with shutters shielding them.

"Everybody comes home." Bruce put on the Gauntlet but groaned as he was hurting from the strain of the energy of all six stones pulsing through the Gauntlet into his arm.

"Take it off! Take it off!" Thor said.

"No, wait. Bruce, are you okay?" Steve asked.

"Talk to me, Banner." Tony said as Bruce panted out.

"I'm OK. I'm OK." Bruce said.

* * *

2014 Nebula flipped the switches as Thanos's warship Sanctuary II flew through the quantum tunnel and suddenly, the warship flew through the tunnel onto the rooftop.

* * *

Bruce roared, struggling as he snapped his fingers and there was an explosion of energy and blinding flash of light before Bruce passed out, with his arm, in which he had the Gauntlet, severely burned as the Gauntlet fell off his hand.

"Bruce!" Steve said as the Iron Gauntlet looked like if it had gone through at least a dozen of rounds with a monster truck, charred and smoking as Clint kicked it away.

"Don't move him." Tony ordered before he sprayed some extinguisher and balsam on Bruce's burned arm as Bruce held Steve's hand.

"Did it work?" Bruce breathed out.

"We're not sure. It's OK." Thor said as the shutters opened.

Scott went outside, wondering if they succeeded as Clint saw Laura's name flashing as his phone rang, realizing he had his family back. Scott watched the birds flying as he smiled.

Clint picked his phone, answering the call. "_Clint?_" Laura called out.

"Honey." Clint breathed out.

"Guys…" Scott trailed off. "I think it worked."

As Bruce's vision cleared, he saw Sanctuary II firing a missile as the blast knocked Scott away and Sanctuary II started to bombard the New Avengers facility, turning it into ruins, burying Rhodey, Bruce and Rocket under the rubble, while Natasha, Simmons, Daisy, Mack, Fitz and Bobbi started to run.

* * *

Bruce used himself as a support before the rubble would crush him, Rocket and Rhodey as Rocket was trapped under the debris.

"I can't breathe! I can't breathe!" Rocket panicked.

Rhodey groaned as he opened his suit, going out, due to it being damaged.

"Rhodey, Rocket, get out of here." Bruce ordered.

"Let me up! Let me up!" Rocket panicked as Rhodey used a rebar as a lever, lifting the rubble under which was Rocket trapped before he crawled away.

"Rhodey!" Bruce yelled as the floor was being flooded.

* * *

"We need to get out of here!" Simmons yelled as she, Daisy, Fitz, Bobbi and Mack started to run before the floor in front of them collapsed.

"Jump!" Daisy ordered as she swung on a pipe and Simmons held onto her as Daisy swung her across the gap, while Bobbi did the same with Fitz and Mack as they continued running.

* * *

Scott, who had shrunk himself, went out from the rubble, hearing Rhodey's SOS. "_Mayday, Mayday! Does anybody copy!_" Rhodey called out. "_We're on the lower level. It's flooding!_"

"What? What?" Ant-Man asked.

"_We are drowning! Does anybody copy? Mayday!_" Rhodey repeated.

"Wait! I'm here!" Ant-Man called out. "I'm here. Can you hear me?"

* * *

Clint and Natasha got up, groaning as they were in the sewer system under the facility as Clint shined up with his flashlight. "Cap?"

Natasha saw the Gauntlet before she heard a growl echo in the sewers. "Clint…"

Clint reached for an arrow and notched it as he fired it into the darkness, lighting it up to see a horde of Outriders.

"Oh, it's like Budapest all over again!" Natasha groaned.

"Yeah, I think this is even worse! Nat, get out of here!" Clint ordered, picking up the Gauntlet as he and Natasha ran down the sewers, being chased by the snarling Outriders.

* * *

Thanos teleported himself on the ground, watching the rubble as 2014 Nebula bowed before him.

"Daughter." Thanos said.

"Yes, Father." 2014 Nebula neared him.

"So, this is the future." Thanos looked around. "Well done."

"Thank you, Father." 2014 Nebula said, removing the plate from her head. "They suspected nothing."

Thanos jammed his sword onto the ground and put his helmet on it. "The arrogant never do." He sat down as he turned to 2014 Nebula. "Go. Find the stones, bring then to me."

"What will you do?" 2014 Nebula asked.

"Wait." Thanos said as Nebula walked away.

* * *

Gamora watched, wondering what she could do to stop Thanos as she turned to Future Nebula. "Tell me something. In the future, what happens to you and me?"

"I try to kill you." Nebula said. "Several times. But eventually, we become friends. We become sisters."

Gamora neared her, intrigued as she offered her hand. "Come on. We can stop him."

Nebula got up as she held Gamora's hand.

* * *

"Come on, buddy, wake up." Tony shook Steve as he came to. "That's my man. You lose this again, I'm keeping it." He said, showing Steve his shield.

"What happened?" Steve wondered.

"You mess with time, it tends to mess back." Tony explained. "You'll see."

Steve, Tony, Thor and Logan watched as Thanos sat in the middle of the rubble.

"What's he been doing?" Tony asked.

"Absolutely nothing." Thor said.

"Where are the stones?" Steve wondered.

"Somewhere under all this." Tony explained, looking at the rubble. "All I know is that he doesn't have them."

"Good." Logan said.

"So, we keep it that way." Steve said.

"You know it's a trap, right?" Thor pointed out.

"Yeah." Tony nodded. "I don't much care."

"Me neither. I've been in worse traps than this one." Logan said.

"Good." Thor nodded. "Just as long as we're all in agreement." The thunder cracked in the distance as Thor used his powers, summoning Stormbreaker and Mjolnir to his hands and putting on his armor. "Let's kill him properly this time."

"I've been wanting to get the piece of that bub for five years. Do you even know how to kill him?" Logan asked.

"Go for the head." Thor said.

"Good. We'll see if that works." Logan said, pulling out his claws.

Steve, Tony, Thor and Logan faced Thanos as Thanos narrowed his eyes.

"You could not live with your own failure." Thanos said. "Where did that bring you? Back to me. I thought by eliminating half of life the other half would thrive. But you've shown me that's impossible. And as long as there are those that remember what was, there will always be those that are unable to accept what can be. They will resist."

"Yes, we're all kinds of stubborn." Tony quipped.

"I'm thankful." Thanos smiled, looking around. "Because now I know what I must do." He got up. "I will shred this universe down to its last atom." He got up, putting on his helmet and picking his sword. "And then, with the stones you've collected for me, create a new one, teeming with life that knows not what it has lost but only what it has been given."

Thor charged Mjolnir and the Stormbreaker.

"A grateful universe." Thanos said.

"Born out of blood." Steve countered.

"They'll never know it. Because you won't be alive to tell them." Thanos sneered.

Thor yelled as he, Tony, Steve and Logan charged at Thanos. Thanos blocked Tony's blade and Steve's shield as Logan lunged at Thanos but Thanos knocked him away. Thanos dodged Thor's hammer and blocked his axe, while knocking Steve away and kicking Thor down. Thanos blocked Tony's repulsor beams with his sword.

* * *

Bruce tried to keep the rubble from falling down on them as he grunted as they started to drown.

"See you on the other side, man." Rhodey said as Rocket whimpered.

* * *

"We're trapped, it's a dead end!" Mack panicked as they stopped.

"Hold on! Fitz, Jemma, get out of here!" Daisy ordered before she started to blast through the rubble.

* * *

"Hang on! I'm coming!" Ant-Man called out, diving through the flooded ruins.

* * *

Natasha and Clint kept on running down the tunnels with the Iron Gauntlet, being chased by the Outriders as Clint jammed explosive arrows onto the pipes.

"Please, tell me you're not doing what I think you are." Natasha begged.

"Remember Rio?" Clint reminded as Natasha groaned.

"Shit. I was afraid you were gonna say that." Natasha grumbled as she fired at the Outriders behind them from her gun as the arrows exploded and Clint and Natasha jumped forward, avoiding the blast as the Outriders burned to death. Natasha fired a grapnel up, pulling herself and Clint up as Clint pulled out his sword, cutting down the Outriders chasing them before they ended up on the upper level, with Clint slicing another Outrider in half, yelling. Clint and Natasha laid down, panting out before he and Natasha saw 2014 Nebula.

"Oh, hey." Clint said, handing her the Iron Gauntlet. "I know you."

2014 Nebula called out. "Father, I have the stones."

"What?" Clint looked confused and Natasha pulled out her gun but 2014 Nebula kicked her in the face before stepping on Clint's chest, aiming a gun at his face.

"Stop." Gamora ordered as 2014 Nebula turned around, seeing her sister aiming a gun at her.

"You're betraying us?" 2014 Nebula asked before present Nebula appeared and Clint and Natasha took cover.

"You don't have to do this." Nebula pleaded.

"I am this." 2014 Nebula said.

"No, you're not." Gamora argued.

"You've seen what we become." Nebula pointed at her head, where was the orange plate from the Guardians as 2014 Nebula seemed conflicted.

"Nebula, listen to her." Gamora said.

"You can change." Nebula said as 2014 Nebula seemed on verge of tears.

"He won't let me." 2014 Nebula pointed out, about to shoot her sister.

"No!" Gamora cried out before Nebula shot her past self in the chest as she staggered back and fell down, dead.

"Damn and I thought you trying to kill me was extreme." Natasha muttered as Clint picked up the Gauntlet.

* * *

Tony landed on the ground as on his back were four arms. "OK, Thor, hit me."

Thor roared and charged Tony's engine as Thanos knocked Steve and Logan away with his sword and Tony fired five beams that Thanos blocked by spinning his sword around and pushing forward.

Thor threw Mjolnir forward by knocking it with Stormbreaker like a baseball. Thanos grabbed Tony and used him as a shield as it knocked Tony away.

"_Boss, wake up._" FRIDAY ordered as Tony came to.

"Cap? Hope you still got a good swing." Logan reminded as Steve nodded. Steve grabbed Logan, spinning him around as Logan roared, while Steve threw him at Thanos. Logan pulled out his claws, roaring as he flew towards the Mad Titan, about to stab him but Thanos grabbed Logan and slammed him to the ground and hit him in the face repeatedly, dazing him before kicking Logan away.

Steve jumped at Thanos with a flip kick but Thanos knocked him away as Steve crashed against a rock.

Thanos threw his sword as Thor slid down, dodging it as Thanos caught his sword and blocked Thor's axe. Thor disarmed Thanos of his sword but Thanos knocked his axe away and grabbed him, slamming him against a tree stump and pummeling him before throwing him towards the rubble and stomping on his chest.

Thanos punched Thor as Thor attempted to summon his axe but Thanos caught it and was about to jam it into Thor's chest as they both struggled. Suddenly, Mjolnir lifted from the ground and knocked Thanos before it flew towards Steve's hand, much to Thor's astonishment, remembering their conquest before Ultron back in Stark Tower.

"I knew it!" Thor laughed before Thanos stomped on him as Thor crashed against a rock.

Steve spun Mjolnir, rushing at Thanos as Thanos blocked it with his sword before blocking Steve's shield. Steve threw his shield and Mjolnir at the same time as they impacted and knocked Thanos in the chest and in the back as Thanos staggered.

Steve lunged at Thanos with both weapons but Steve used combined might of Mjolnir and his shield to beat Thanos before he sent a lightning at Thanos with the hammer, knocking him down. Steve then struck again with the lightning at Thanos but Thanos dodged, rolling away. Steve attempted to slam the hammer at Thanos but Thanos grabbed Steve and slammed him to the ground.

Logan roared, lunging at Thanos from behind but Thanos grabbed his sword and sliced him in the chest as Logan screamed before Thanos stabbed him.

"You're nothing but an animal." Thanos sneered.

"I'm more than that, bub. I'm Wolverine!" Logan roared again, stabbing Thanos repeatedly but Thanos was unfazed as he grabbed Logan and threw him away.

Thanos removed his helmet and attacked Steve, who dodged Thanos's sword before Thanos sliced him in the leg as Steve screamed. Steve attempted to hit him in the face with Mjolnir but Thanos knocked it away from Steve's hand.

Thanos picked his sword and attempted to slice Steve as Steve used his shield to block. Thanos repeatedly attacked, shattering the shield into pieces, since his sword was much denser than vibranium, which was supposed to be among the strongest metals on Earth, next to adamantium. Thanos kept on swinging his sword until the shield broke into two, much to Steve's shock as Thanos knocked him away.

Steve laid down, panting out as all hope seemed lost, when he got up, groaning.

"In all my years of conquest, violence, slaughter, it was never personal. But I'll tell you now, what I'm about to do to your stubborn, annoying little planet, I'm gonna enjoy it very, very much." Thanos said as the Black Order teleported on the ground with Thanos's legions and fleets of Chitauri, Outriders, Leviathans and Sakaarans.

Steve stared in despair and got up, groaning, wondering how they could win as he put the two pieces of his shield into both hands before, much to his shock, he heard Sam's voice.

"_Cap, it's Sam. Can you hear me?_" Sam called out as Steve touched his comms. "_On your left._"

Steve turned around to see a golden circle form that opened a portal to Wakanda, from which went out T'Challa, Shuri, M'Baku and Okoye, alongside with the armies of Wakanda and Sam, Wanda, Bucky and Groot as T'Challa and his men started to chant their battle cry in Xhosa. More portals then appeared as from Titan went out Doctor Strange with resurrected Quill, Drax, Mantis and Spider-Man and from another portal went out Hope, also known as the Wasp.

From New York went out Daredevil, Elektra, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Frank Castle, Colleen Wing, Danny Rand, Trish Walker, Misty Knight, Barney Barton and the U.S. soldiers.

From another portal went out Davos and the warriors from K'un-Tzu and monks of the Order of the Crane Mother.

From another portal went out Deke Shaw, Melinda May, Robbie Reyes, also known as the Ghost Rider and Inhumans, alongside with Elena Rodriguez, also known as Yo-Yo.

From another portal went out Lady Sif, the Valkyrie, Asgardians and the gladiator refugees from Sakaar.

From another portal went out Cyclops, Storm, Beast, Iceman, Jean Grey, Colossus, Rogue, Kitty, Magneto, Sunspot, Angel, Mystique, Pyro, Juggernaut and Multiple Man.

From another portal went out a group of six superpowered teenagers, known as Runaways, alongside with a black boy in black cloak, Tyrone Johnson and a blonde girl in white suit, Tandy Bowen, also known as vigilantes Cloak and Dagger.

From another portal went out Reed Richards, Susan and Johnny Storm and Ben Grimm, also known as the Fantastic Four.

Pepper landed in front of them as a fleet of Wakandan army and Ravagers flew above them, alongside the ground forces and the Masters of Mystic Arts.

"Is that everyone?" Doctor Strange asked.

"What? You wanted more?" Wong snapped.

From the rubble emerged Giant-Man, who opened his fist to reveal Rocket, Smart Hulk and War Machine as Daisy blasted her way out with Mack and Bobbi.

The united Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Defenders, Runaways, agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Fantastic Four and X-Men and other heroes got in line with the united armies of Wakandans, Ravagers, Asgardians and the gladiators from Sakaar, Masters of Mystic Arts, Inhumans, warriors from Order of Crane Mother and the U.S. army as Steve summoned Mjolnir to his hand.

"Avengers… assemble!" Steve said and with a united roar, all heroes and their allies charged forward. Thanos looked a bit in dismay before he charged forward with his army.

The battle for Earth and fate of the universe has begun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Despite that I didn't make Thor fat, like in the film, I figured he would've been a bit rusty and weakened since Infinity War. In Infinity War, Thor definitely could've used the Gauntlet but hope my explanation why he did not, makes sense.
> 
> Now, I hope you liked the characters I have added, which are the Defenders, the Punisher and Elektra and Colleen and Trish and Misty, alongside with Davos, Barney, the U.S. soldiers and the monks from the Order of Crane Mother, Robbie Reyes, the Ghost Rider, agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. with the Inhumans, the X-Men, the Runaways and Cloak and Dagger and the Fantastic Four and Lady Sif.
> 
> But, one thing that made no sense is, that if you remember Infinity War, when Thanos used the Infinity Gauntlet with all the stones, it suffered so big damage, it was practically burned into his hand and yet, when Bruce used the Iron Gauntlet, it sustained just some surface burns, which were not as severe as with the Infinity Gauntlet and it makes no sense that a gauntlet made by men is more durable with the Infinity Stones than a gauntlet created by magic.
> 
> And we're gonna move to my favorite part now, which I'll hope you'll enjoy.
> 
> So, what do you guys think?
> 
> Please review and let me know if you have been enjoying this and want for me to continue.


	10. Battle for Earth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Avengers and their allies make one last stand against Thanos.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own anything in Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Steve threw Mjolnir, knocking Cull Obsidian away as Thor slammed the Stormbreaker to the ground, knocking away some of Thanos's soldiers.

* * *

Valkyrie, Pepper, Rhodey, Cloak and Dagger, Quill, Jean, Wanda, Tony, Johnny and Spider-Man were in the air, fending off Thanos's soldiers, alongside the Inhumans.

* * *

Magneto attempted to control the soldiers' weapons and while he was able to turn the Chitauri's weapons against them, he was unable to do anything against the warships or Sakaarans or the Black Order and Outriders.

"Inorganic material. Clever." Magneto pointed out as he attempted to slam the ships against each other but instead, he and Jean threw piles of rubble at the Outriders, Chitauri and Sakaarans.

* * *

Reed stretched his arm and knocked away some of the aliens, while Susan created force field balls, trapping some of the aliens and slamming them to the ground.

* * *

"Die!" M'Baku roared, killing some of the Chitauri with his spear.

* * *

Giant-Man punched a Leviathan as it crashed to the ground.

* * *

Sif dodged as a Chitauri rushed at her and she decapitated him before impaling a Sakaaran on her sword.

* * *

Black Panther kicked an Outrider and scratched him in the face. Okoye impaled a Sakaaran on a spear, while Shuri was fending off the aliens with her blasters. Drax lunged at Cull Obsidian from behind, roaring and stabbing him repeatedly in the back as Korg slammed his mace in Cull Obsidian's face.

* * *

Tony and Pepper flew around, destroying the Sakaaran fighters.

* * *

Danny kicked a Chitauri in the face and in the chest before slamming his Iron Fist to the ground, knocking them away. Davos punched an Outrider and did a roundhouse kick, knocking some of them away. Colleen sliced three Sakaarans down as Luke jumped in.

"Danny, Colleen, Davos, light it up!" Luke ordered as they nodded. Danny, Colleen and Davos charged their Iron Fists before slamming them at Luke's palms and the shockwave sent the aliens flying away as the monks of the Order of Crane Mother were helping fend off the aliens.

* * *

Daredevil jumped back as a Chitauri attacked him and jammed his billy clubs into his neck as the Chitauri screamed. An Outrider rushed at Daredevil but Elektra sliced him down from behind.

"Watch your back." Elektra warned.

"I have you for that." Daredevil shrugged.

* * *

Jessica threw away some of the Sakaarans as Trish lunged at two of them and threw them down. Trish kicked a Chitauri back and dodged as a Sakaaran tried to shoot her.

"Cat reflexes." Trish screamed angrily as she scratched the Sakaaran in the face and kicked him back and she flipped back to kick down two of the Outriders.

Misty used her metal arm to knock away any alien attacking her.

* * *

Kitty jumped at one of the Chitauri and knocked him down before she phased two Outriders into the ground.

* * *

Iceman slid down the battlefield, freezing the aliens.

* * *

Daisy blasted away the aliens with her powers as Elena rushed down the battlefield, knocking down the aliens attacking them, while Mack cut a head off an Outrider and impaled a Chitauri on the handle.

"I wonder if we should've taken up the Confederacy's offer." Mack said.

"Are you serious?" Daisy snapped as Bobbi smacked a Chitauri in the face with her battle staves and knocked him down before she flipped forward, knocking down two of the Outriders, while Elena threw away an alien sneaking up on Mack.

"Be more careful." Elena said.

* * *

"One batch, two batch, penny and a dime." Frank muttered before he, Barney, Quill, May, Deke and the U.S. soldiers opened fire at the aliens, alongside with Bucky and Rocket.

* * *

Multiple Man created dozens of duplicates, rushing at the aliens, overpowering them with his numbers before they were killed and Multiple Man repeated what he had done.

* * *

Colossus charged forward, knocking down the aliens with the Juggernaut.

"I'm the Juggernaut! Once I start moving, nothing can stop me, bitches!" Juggernaut snarled.

* * *

Sunspot and Pyro used their powers to incinerate some of the aliens, alongside with other mutants and Inhumans, who had pyrokinetic powers.

* * *

Angel flew around before turning his wings into metallic ones and throwing metallic feathers, impaling some of the Chitauri and Sakaarans and Outriders.

* * *

Cyclops fired his optic beam, knocking down some of the aliens as Jean threw rubble at them with her telekinesis.

* * *

"It's clobbering time!" The Thing roared, doing a thunderclap as the Sakaarans and Outriders were sent flying away with shockwave.

* * *

Ghost Rider swung his chain around, ensnaring some of the aliens and incinerating them before he threw fireballs as the aliens were sent flying away, burning.

* * *

Alex ran down the battlefield, taking cover and firing from his gun and Nico used her staff and summoned a cyclone, knocking away some of the aliens. Karolina generated a shield, protecting them before she fired a light beam, slicing through the Outriders. Molly punched the aliens and knocked them away or threw them like ragdolls with her enhanced strength. Gert summoned the dinosaur Old Lace as the raptor devoured some of the aliens.

"Good boy." Gert said.

* * *

Tyrone teleported himself and Tandy across the battlefield before Tandy threw some energy daggers, killing the aliens.

* * *

Steve threw Mjolnir at one of the Sakaarans before knocking another one away, while Thor was slicing them down with Stormbreaker and threw it, while Thor caught the hammer and Steve caught the axe.

"No, no, give me that. You have the little one." Thor said as he and Steve switched weapons. Thor flew up as Rocket, Bucky, May, Frank and Deke continued shooting down the aliens.

* * *

Tony sliced down some aliens with his lasers before he landed, only for Cull Obsidian to knock him down. Tony attempted to blast Cull Obsidian away before Spider-Man used his webbing to pull and Cull Obsidian fell down before Giant-Man stomped on him, crushing him to death.

Spider-Man neared Tony and put down his mask, helping him get up. "Hey. Oh. Holy cow. You will not believe what's been going on. Do you remember when we were in the space and I got all dusty? And I must've passed out because I woke up and you were gone. But Doctor Strange was right there, right? And he was like, "It's been five years. Come on, they need us." And then he started doing the yellow sparkly thing that he does all the time."

"He did? Oh, no." Tony hugged Peter tightly, glad that his protégé had come back from the dead.

"What are you doing? Oh." Peter hugged Tony as Tony's eyes were getting wet. "Oh, this is nice."

* * *

Quill flew across the battlefield, shooting down the aliens before he landed at the wreckage, dodging a Sakaaran as another one knocked him down. Before he could finish Quill off, the alien fell on Quill, who groaned. Quill panted out and was unable to believe his own eyes to see that Gamora, the object of his crush, was alive as Quill removed his mask. "Gamora?" Quill neared her, sadness filling him. "I thought I lost you." He caressed her cheek before Gamora twisted his hand. "Ow." Quill groaned before she kicked him in the crotch.

"Don't touch me!" Gamora sneered as she kicked Quill in the crotch again and Quill groaned, falling down.

"You missed the first time." Quill said. "Then you got them both the second time."

Nebula neared Gamora, who was unable to believe what she had been told about her future. "This is the one? Seriously?" Gamora asked incredulously.

"Your choices were him or a tree." Nebula said.

Quill was now completely confused, wondering what the hell was going on.

* * *

Clint ran down the battlefield with the Gauntlet with Natasha as a Chitauri Gorilla was chasing them.

"OK, this is even worse than Budapest!" Natasha said, shooting down the aliens chasing her and Clint.

"You think?!" Clint snapped.

Sam flew at the Gorilla, impaling his wings on it.

"Cap! What do you want us to do with this damn thing?" Clint called out.

"Get those stones as far away as possible!" Steve ordered as he used Mjolnir to kill a Chitauri.

"No! We need to get them back where they came from!" Bruce protested.

"No way to get them back. Thanos destroyed the quantum tunnel." Tony argued.

"Hold on!" Scott remembered as he reduced himself, pressing a button on the keys he had. "That wasn't our only time machine."

Across the battlefield sounded off "_La Cucaracha_" as Steve looked around. "Anyone seen an ugly brown van out there?"

"Yes! But you're not gonna like where it's parked!" Valkyrie said, flying on her horse.

"Scott, how long you need to get that thing working?" Tony asked.

"Uh, maybe 10 minutes." Scott said as he and Hope enlarged themselves.

"Get it started. We'll get the stones to you." Steve said.

"We're on it, Cap." Hope said as she and Scott smiled at each other before putting on their helmets and reducing themselves.

* * *

Doctor Strange lifted the aliens in the air before slamming them to the ground as Tony landed to face him.

"Hey. You said one out of 14 million, we win, yeah? Tell me this is it." Tony said.

"If I tell you what happens, it won't happen." Strange pointed out.

Tony nodded. "You better be right."

* * *

Hope flew Scott towards the van as they enlarged themselves back to normal size.

"It's a mess back here." Hope said as Scott tried to turn on the engine in the van.

"It's dead." Scott groaned.

"What?" Hope demanded as she whirled on him.

"It's dead. I have to hotwire it." Scott said, playing with the wires.

* * *

Thanos cut down one of the Masters of Mystic Arts before spinning the sword around, killing the mutants and Inhumans attacking him.

"Where's Nebula?" Thanos demanded.

Corvus Glaive impaled an Asgardian on his glaive. "She's not responding."

"Sire…" Ebony Maw pointed at Clint, who was running down the battlefield with the Iron Gauntlet.

* * *

Clint was fending off the aliens attacking him before T'Challa jumped in, letting out a kinetic pulse from his suit, knocking them away.

"Clint! Give it to me." T'Challa ordered as Clint handed him the Gauntlet.

T'Challa rushed down the battlefield, jumping over the aliens in his way and knocking them down with his agility and speed before unleashing the kinetic power absorbed in his suit, knocking them away before Thanos's sword knocked T'Challa down as it flew back towards Thanos like a boomerang.

Thanos rushed at T'Challa before Wanda flew in, her eyes full of hate and shining crimson red with bloodthirst. "You took everything from me."

"I don't even know who you are." Thanos said indifferently.

"You will." Wanda said as she lifted two giant pieces of debris, throwing them at Thanos, who smashed them with his sword. Wanda fired energy blasts that Thanos blocked with his sword.

* * *

T'Challa attempted to retake the Gauntlet before Ebony Maw lifted it in the air with his telekinesis, with the rubble. T'Challa jumped and grabbed the Gauntlet, grunting before Ebony Maw pulled T'Challa towards him as T'Challa yelped.

"I got it!" Spider-Man swung towards T'Challa and caught the gauntlet and jumped at another alien. "Activate Instant Kill." His eyes glowed red as the metal arms on his suit impaled the Outriders attacking him.

* * *

Wanda stopped the sword with her powers before knocking it away and breaking it. Wanda lifted Thanos in the air, dismantling his armor as Thanos grunted.

"Rain fire!" Thanos ordered.

"But, sire, our troops!" Corvus Glaive protested.

"Just do it!" Thanos insisted as from Sanctuary II flew a barrage of missiles on the battlefield and Wong and the Masters of the Mystic Arts enchanted shields as Thanos disregarded the collateral damage and his own army being destroyed by the weapons from his warship.

Pepper watched as the dam holding the lake was destroyed and the flood was about to drown them all. "_Uh, is anyone else seeing this?_"

Strange watched in horror before he enchanted a cyclone, sucking the water.

* * *

Spider-Man attempted to fend off the Outriders but was outnumbered and overpowered. "I got this! I got this. OK, I don't got this. Help, somebody help!"

"Hey, Queens, heads up!" Steve threw Mjolnir as Spider-Man caught it with his webbing, flying away with the Gauntlet across the battlefield before Pepper caught him.

"Hang on. I got you, kid." Pepper said before throwing him to Valkyrie and landing on her horse.

"Hey, nice to meet you… oh, my God!" Spider-Man screamed as Valkyrie was avoiding the missiles and fell down with the Gauntlet. Spider-Man attempted to run but a blast in front of him knocked him away, causing for Peter to lose his mask as he yelped and everyone was hiding from the barrage of missiles from Sanctuary II before they saw light shining flying towards it as Sanctuary II turned its turrets towards it.

"What the hell is this?" Sam demanded.

"FRIDAY, what are they firing at?" Tony wondered.

"_Something just entered the upper atmosphere._" FRIDAY said.

Carol flew at Sanctuary II as Thanos's warship exploded.

"Oh, yeah!" Rocket cheered.

"Holy shit…" Jessica whispered.

"Sweet Christmas!" Luke exclaimed, not believing his own eyes.

Carol turned back at the warship, flying through it again as the warship collapsed to the lake as Thanos stared in dismay, breathing out heavily, wondering how was it possible that the Earthlings were able to defy him like that, despite his vast forces.

"Danvers, we need an assist here." Steve said.

Scott opened the back of his van and turned on the quantum tunnel.

Carol landed in front of Peter, who had in his arms the Iron Gauntlet.

"Hi. I'm Peter Parker." Peter said nervously.

"Hey, Peter Parker. You got something for me?" Carol teased.

Peter groaned as he watched the aliens in front of them.

"I don't know how you're gonna get it through all of that." Peter said.

Suddenly, Natasha, Hope, Wanda, Sif, Valkyrie, Nebula, Okoye, Colleen, Elektra, Jessica, Shuri, Pepper, Mantis, Gamora, Elena, Daisy, Bobbi, May, Jean, Kitty, Storm, Susan, Molly, Karolina, Gert and Nico appeared.

"Don't worry." Wanda said.

"She's got help." Okoye added.

Wanda flew forward, blasting away the aliens as Gamora, Nebula, Elektra and Colleen lunged forward, slicing down the aliens. Gamora cut down a Gorilla as Colleen threw her katana, charging it with chi as it sliced down some of the aliens and it flew back towards her like a boomerang. Elektra spun around, cutting the head off one alien and stabbing another one in the chest as Nebula stabbed another alien. Sif spun her sword, slicing an alien down before cutting another one in the leg and stabbing another one in the head.

Daisy used her powers and blasted away the aliens charging at them before she pulled out her gun, shooting some of them down.

Storm summoned a tornado, sending the aliens flying away.

Natasha and May pulled out their guns, shooting the aliens down.

"Nice shot." Natasha quipped.

"You're better." May teased.

Bobbi rolled down to dodge as the Chitauri attacked her before she pulled out her battle staves, hitting one on the face, another one in the chest and then she spun around, knocking the Chitauri surrounding her down

Nico used her staff, unleashing the energy and sending the aliens flying away.

Karolina blasted down the aliens with her powers by firing light beams from her hands.

Gert summoned the raptor Old Lace, who lunged at the aliens, attacking them.

Elena rushed down the battlefield, knocking down the aliens as Jessica threw away any alien charging towards her like a ragdoll.

Okoye impaled Corvus Glaive on her spear and knocked him down, while Valkyrie cut down a Leviathan and Wanda forced another one crash to the ground.

Jean unleashed her Phoenix powers, incinerating some of the aliens as Storm summoned lightning from the sky, striking down more of them.

Susan used her force field powers to knock away and crush the aliens.

Kitty jumped at an Outrider and spun around, knocking down three Chitauri before she kicked the Outrider in the face. Kitty punched a Sakaaran and slammed him to the ground before she phased him through the ground, trapping him.

Carol charged through towards the quantum tunnel as Thanos rushed at her but Pepper, Daisy, Shuri, Hope, Jean, Susan, Karolina and Wanda attempted to blast Thanos, knocking him down. Thanos turned to Carol and threw his sword at the quantum tunnel as Thanos roared, destroying the time machine as the explosion knocked most of the people down.

Thanos attempted to take the Gauntlet as Tony tackled him but Thanos knocked him away. Thanos dodged as Thor attacked with his axe and hammer. Thanos grabbed Thor's axe as he used his hammer to force the axe onto Thanos's neck, while Steve and Logan jumped at Thanos from behind, attempting to jam the axe and cut Thanos's head off. Thanos knocked the axe away and freed himself from Steve's and Logan's grip and headbutted Thor, knocking them all down. Thanos pummeled Steve before Logan lunged at him, cutting him in the neck. Thanos grabbed Logan, punching him in the head, dazing Logan and knocking him away.

Thanos grabbed the Gauntlet as Jessica and Luke charged at him. Jessica and Luke both punched Thanos in the chest as one as Thanos staggered. Jessica punched Thanos in the face and Luke hit Thanos in the stomach as Thanos knelt down but Thanos grabbed them both, slamming them against each other as Jessica and Luke grunted before throwing them away. Thanos put the Gauntlet on before Carol landed in front of him, pummeling him but Thanos grabbed her arm and threw her away before putting on the Iron Gauntlet.

Thanos struggled to use it, since it was not magical gauntlet like the Infinity Gauntlet as Thanos yelled but Carol grabbed it, attempting to yank it out. Thanos attempted to knock her away but Carol was unfazed as Carol attempted to punch him. Thanos removed the Power Stone from its slot before using it to power his punch, knocking Carol away.

Tony stared as he saw Strange, who lifted his finger, indicating this was it. This was the one future in which they could win, if they timed it right. And then it hit Tony. He realized what he had to do, even if it would cost him his own life.

Thanos put the Power Stone back into its slot as the energy from all Stones surged through him before Tony intervened, grabbing the Gauntlet, struggling to take it off Thanos's hand before Thanos knocked Tony away. Thanos looked at the Gauntlet and laughed, certain of his victory. "I am… inevitable." Thanos declared, saying the same words his future self said, before Thor executed him. Thanos snapped his fingers… but all that happened was metallic "clang" and Thanos was perplexed to see that the Stones had been removed from the Gauntlet before he saw Tony infusing them onto his suit and the energy of all six stones were burning his hand as Tony groaned. He knew he would not survive but it was a sacrifice he was willing to make to defeat Thanos once and for all, while Thanos looked shocked, not believing that he would be beaten like this.

"And I… am… Iron Man." Tony snapped his fingers and there was a loud "BANG" and suddenly, all Thanos's forces, his Leviathans, Chitauri, Outriders and others, his fleet, warships and the Black Order were turning into dust, blown away by the wind, except for Nebula and Gamora. Thanos was disbelieved that he lost and was beaten by the humans of all people.

Realizing that his fate had been sealed, Thanos would not give them the satisfaction of watching him complain at his defeat as Thanos calmly sat down and watched the sunset solemnly and quietly with honor and dignity as his allies were fading away before he closed his eyes as ironically, the Mad Titan himself turned into dust, blown away by the wind, just like his victims did five years ago.

The Mad Titan Thanos was finally dead and defeated and the war for the Infinity Stones was over… but at great cost.

Half of Tony's body was burned as he fell down, slumping against the rubble as he exhaled, realizing he would not last very long before Rhodey, Peter and Pepper neared him and Tony was happy to be surrounded by his best friend, wife and protégé.

"Mr. Stark?" Peter asked, breathing shakily. "Hey. Mr. Stark. Can you hear me?" Tony was barely aware of his surroundings as Peter held his hand. "It's Peter. Hey. We won, Mr. Stark. We won, Mr. Stark. We won! You did it, sir, you did it." He couldn't hold his tears back anymore. "I'm sorry."

Peter sobbed before Pepper knelt towards Tony and held his chest.

"Hey, Pep." Tony said softly.

"Friday?" Pepper asked, hoping that Tony was going to make it.

"_Life functions critical._" Friday said. Tony felt his eyes get wet as Pepper couldn't hold back tears either.

"Tony? Look at me." Tony groaned weakly as he struggled to turn to Pepper. "We're gonna be OK. You can rest now."

Tony tilted his head as the life was leaving him and Pepper broke down in tears as he drew his last breath, while Steve, Thor, Natasha, Bruce, Clint and the remaining Avengers started to grieve their fallen friend as well. Pepper kissed Tony on his cheek as she sobbed into his shoulder, while everyone grieved for Tony as well, looking solemn.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked the fight scenes but it was very tricky to do it with the additional characters. Plus, I have not watched Runaways and Cloak and Dagger save for the pilot and I based their powers on from what I know from the comic books, MCU wiki and the clips I've seen, so sorry if it's inaccurate, plus, you have to admit it's kind of tricky to try and make the epic battle like that even more epic with additional characters.
> 
> Magneto's powers don't work on some aliens, since their armor is not all of it metal but inorganic materials, so I hope it makes sense. In one comic book, Iron Man kicked Magneto's ass because his armor was made of carbon fiber and not metal, so I hope you can bite the explanation.
> 
> And Tony… I had to hold back tears at his exit, I was sour about him after Civil War but in Infinity War and Endgame, he was more on my good side and I think he has redeemed himself.
> 
> And poor Pepper and Morgan.
> 
> RIP Anthony Edward Stark, you shall be missed. We love you 3000.
> 
> The next chapter shall be the concluding epilogue of this story and trilogy I have written. I hope you have enjoyed how have I linked the Defenders series and added other Marvel characters into this.


	11. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the aftermath of the battle with Thanos, the heroes hold a memorial and funeral to pay their respects to Tony and Hunter, while returning the Infinity Stones back to where they belong as Steve makes a life-changing decision.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a concluding epilogue to this story and also an ending to the trilogy that I have called "The Defenders Return". I thank everyone who has followed, favorited and given kudos to this story and the other two stories in this trilogy, since I have enjoyed writing it.
> 
> And I would like to thank Stand with Ward and Queen for giving me permission to do what he did in his one-shot "A Captain's Farewell".
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own anything in Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Everyone resumed their lives. Or tried to. Clint returned to his family with his brother Barney, meeting Laura and Clint's children.

Peter struggled to continue his studies after his mentor's death.

The Runaways were no longer outlaws or hunted by any power-hungry organizations, such as Hydra, PRIDE or the Sokovian Accords.

Robbie returned to his role as the Ghost Rider, riding across the Earth and Hell to punish the wicked.

Mack, Bobbi, May, Daisy, Deke, Fitz and Simmons returned to work in S.H.I.E.L.D.

Matt retired from his life as Daredevil and attempted to live normally with Elektra as his fiancée, while reconciling with Karen and Foggy.

Danny and Colleen reopened Chikara Dojo, training new students, while working together in Chinatown as its protectors, the Iron Fists.

Jessica returned to her work as private eye as she reconciled with Trish, who was being trained by Jessica as a vigilante and a new private eye.

Frank resumed his role as the Punisher, hunting and killing criminals, when he got a word of crime lord, known as John Saint.

Tyrone and Tandy continued their vigilante activities as duo Cloak and Dagger.

Davos returned to K'un-Tzu after reconciling with Danny and continued to train, trying to earn the Iron Fist.

Natasha and Bucky ended up together, hunting the remnants of Hydra or Soviet operatives responsible for Black Widow and Winter Soldier programs to move on from their pasts, once and for all.

T'Challa returned to Wakanda, resuming his duty as the king.

Xavier and the X-Men and Logan returned to Xavier's School, resuming their former activities as teachers and trainers of mutants, with Sokovian Accords and anti-mutant and anti-Enhanced laws cancelled, while Erik built a refugee community of mutants on island of Genosha, skeptical from Xavier's dream, not believing they could co-exist with humans but uncertain of his own extremist beliefs after what he had seen they were able to accomplish together.

Scott returned to Cassie and Hope, wanting to live with his family.

Thor decided to leave with the Guardians of the Galaxy, while leaving the rule of Asgard to Brunnhilde, Valkyrie, while bickering with Quill who would lead the team as Quill wanted to search for Gamora, hoping he could bring her back to the team, despite that she was from the past, having no loyalty towards them, with letting Valkyrie become the Queen of Asgard.

Dr. Strange and Wong returned to Sanctum Sanctorum and resumed their duties as Masters of Mystic Arts.

* * *

_ **Stark Residence** _

"_Everybody wants a happy ending, right? But it doesn't always roll that way. Maybe this time. I'm hoping if you play this back, it's in celebration. I hope families are reunited. I hope we get it back. And something like a normal version of the planet that has been restored. If there ever was such a thing. God, what a world. Universe, now. If you told me 10 years ago that we weren't alone, let alone to this extent, I mean, I wouldn't have been surprised but come one, who knew? The epic forces of darkness and light that have come to play._

_And for better or worse, that's the reality Morgan's gonna have to find a way to grow up in. So, I thought I'd probably better record a little greeting in the case of an untimely death. On my part. Not that death at any time isn't untimely. This time travel thing that we're gonna try and pull off tomorrow, it's got me scratching my head about the survivability of it all. That's the thing. Then again, that's the hero gig, right? Part of the journey is the end. What am I even tripping for? Everything is gonna work out exactly the way it's supposed to._" Tony got up and neared Morgan seemingly as she eyed her deceased father with uncertainty. "_I love you 3000._"

Tony's hologram turned off as Pepper sniffed softly.

The Avengers, Defenders, Elektra, Colleen and Davos, agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the X-Men, Xavier, Nick Fury, Maria Hill, the Guardians sans Gamora, Peter, Aunt May, Strange, Wong, Hank, Hope, Scott, Janet, Carol, the Bartons, T'Challa and his family, Bucky and even Secretary Thunderbolt Ross and Betty were among the people attending the funeral for Tony.

* * *

Elsewhere, a bit later, Clint, Natasha, Mack, Bobbi, May, Daisy, Fitz, Simmons, Robbie and Deke held a memorial for Hunter as well.

"Hunter… was an ass. An unbelievable pain in the ass." Fitz said.

"No one could stand his antics." Simmons nodded.

"God knows how many times I wanted to tear him apart." Bobbi sniffed. "But despite all his… flaws and misdeeds… he was a loyal friend. A good teammate, who was fiercely loyal and knew what was right."

"He certainly was." May nodded.

"May you and Tony rest in peace. Say "hi" to Phil for us up there." Mack said.

"To Hunter." Fitz toasted.

"To Hunter." Everyone said.

"I hope you know that you saved us. I love you." Bobbi knelt down, placing a kiss on the tombstone.

* * *

"So… who would've thought that from you being almost crushed by a building, we'd end up here?" Danny quipped as he, Matt, Karen, Foggy, Elektra, Colleen, Trish, Davos, Jessica, Misty and Luke were drinking.

"We sure came a long way." Matt nodded.

"What are you guys going to do now? I'm still a cop." Misty quipped.

"_Nelson, Murdock & Page_?" Karen mused.

"Maybe. Or, '_Page, Nelson and Murdock_'?" Foggy joked.

"I hope you won't tear Matthew down again or you'll have to deal with me." Elektra teased and Foggy and Elektra paled, not wanting to make her angry and knew better now than to treat Matt badly, trying to do their best to be good friends as Elektra laughed. "Just jesting. Calm down."

Foggy and Karen laughed nervously, not sure if Elektra was joking or not.

"Well, I thought that the Iron Fist was the greatest honor one could achieve. But this…" Davos paused.

"I doubt anything can beat that." Luke said.

"Beating the shit out of aliens?" Trish asked as she giggled before turning to Jessica. "For what it's worth…"

"I know. I'm sorry too for pushing you away." Jessica said.

"Can we start over?" Trish asked.

"I'd want to try." Jessica said as she and Trish shook hands, making amends.

* * *

"I told you we could coexist. We've succeeded." Xavier said, watching the news.

"Don't be a fool. The mutants, Inhumans and humans had a mutual enemy and were united by a common cause. Nothing more. But when this temporary alliance stops, they'll turn on us again." Erik said.

"Ever the pessimist, are you, Erik?" Xavier said.

"Like I said, your naivete will be your doom." Erik said. "Does it ever scare you that one day, someone would come for your students? Does it ever wake you up at night? That thought."

"Yes, it does." Xavier said. "But then I feel deep pity for any poor soul trying to look for trouble coming for my students. Like you've seen, together, we can accomplish many things."

Erik smiled, skeptical.

* * *

"Are you OK, Nat?" Bucky asked as Natasha sat down.

"I don't know." Natasha said. "I should feel relieved but…"

"You feel empty. I've been there." Bucky nodded as he sat down next to her. "Your past is not holding you back anymore and you have no idea where to go. You're wondering if you have redeemed yourself. Maybe you need help from someone who's been where you're at."

Natasha smiled, turning to Bucky, holding his hand before she kissed him, not helping herself before she pulled away, blushing. "Sorry. I…"

"No, no… it's… it's OK." Bucky said. Neither of them knew who moved first before they kissed fiercely again.

* * *

Thor entered the Benatar, putting his bag down.

"The Asgardians of the Galaxy back together again." Thor laughed. "Where to first?"

"Hey." Quill said, stopping Thor as Thor moved the map. "Just so you know, this is my ship still. I'm in charge."

"I know. I know. Of course you are." Thor said mockingly, making it obvious that he would not let Quill be in charge. "Of course."

"See, you say, "Of course," but then you touch the map. It makes you think that maybe you didn't realize I was in charge." Quill said.

"Quail, that's your own insecurities in there." Thor said.

"_Quail_?" Quill repeated, offended as they kept on bickering over who would be in charge.

* * *

"Remember, you have to return the stones to the exact moment you got them or you're gonna open up a bunch of nasty alternative realities." Bruce said, opening the case with the Infinity Stones.

"Don't worry, Bruce." Steve said, closing the case. "Clip all the branches."

"There's no bringing Hunter back." Bruce said, much to Fitz's and Simmons's dismay. "I tried. I really tried to bring him back. I'm sorry."

Fitz and Simmons took a breath, getting ahold of themselves. "He made his choice." Simmons said.

"You know, if you want, I could come with you." Sam offered as he, Bucky and Natasha watched Steve enter the platform.

"You're a good man, Sam. This one's on me, though." Steve said before nearing Bucky. "Don't do anything stupid till I get back."

Bucky smiled, remembering the words he had told Steve, when he left with 107th before Steve became the Super Soldier, Captain America. "How can I? You're taking all the stupid with you." Bucky said, repeating Steve's words as they hugged each other.

"Be careful, Steve." Natasha hugged Steve.

"I'll do my best." Steve said.

"See you in a minute." Natasha said.

"Gonna miss you, buddy." Bucky said.

"It's gonna be okay, Buck." Steve promised as he went onto the platform with the Stones and Mjolnir.

"How long is this gonna take?" Sam asked.

"For him, as long as he needs. For us, five seconds." Bruce explained. Steve picked Mjolnir as Bruce set the coordinates. "You ready, Cap?" Steve nodded. "All right, we'll meet you back here, OK?"

"You bet." Steve said.

"Going quantum. 3… 2… 1…"

Steve shrunk, diving through the quantum realm.

* * *

Steve travelled through time, returning each Infinity Stone and Mjolnir back to their respective places as he saved the Tesseract as the last.

* * *

_ **1970, Camp Lehigh, New Jersey** _

Steve had returned all the Stones, save for the Tesseract, which he had saved as the last before returning to his "birthplace". Steve put the Tesseract back into the safe and stared at it, remembering how much pain it had brought him, grieving for Hunter, Vision and Tony as he put the cube in the safe before Steve heard 'click'.

"Drop the Tesseract and turn around. Now." A female voice with a British accent said, very familiar to Steve as he cursed himself for being careless. Steve slowly put the cube down and carefully turned around to face his old flame Peggy Carter with his hands behind his head as Peggy gasped in shock, dropping her gun, wondering if she had seen a ghost.

"Steve? But you're… how… what…" Peggy was unable to form words as she breathed out.

"I don't have much time to explain. I'm on a mission." Steve explained.

"Agent Carter. Is everything alright?" One of the agents peeked around the corner as Steve used his cap to cover his face, not wanting to be recognized.

"Fine. Everything's fine. Carry on." Peggy said after a moment, while not taking her eyes off Steve as the agent left.

"Thank you." Steve nodded gratefully.

"We should talk in private. Let's go to my office, we won't be disturbed there." Peggy said, well, more like ordered as Steve chuckled. Same old Peggy.

Steve followed her, knowing he owed her an explanation. He closed the safe as they stealthily snuck through the base, with Steve lowering his cap to hide his face and avoiding being recognized as they passed by Hank's office before they entered Peggy's office.

"How is this possible?" Peggy demanded, eyes filled with pain returning to surface that she had buried long ago, old wounds reopening.

"Peggy… it's complicated. I didn't die. I just went into ice and one day, in 2012, S.H.I.E.L.D. will find me and dig me out." Steve explained.

Peggy looked completely baffled. "Wait, you're saying that-"

"I'm from the future. Around 50 years from today, to be precise." Steve nodded as Peggy took a moment to process the news.

"Then… how are you here? Now? In front of me?" Peggy asked as Steve shifted.

"Peggy, that's…" Steve took a breath. "That's a very long and complicated story."

"Well, I have no pressing matters to attend to for the next hour. Uncomplicate it." Peggy said as Steve chuckled again, missing her need for being authoritative as she crossed her arms.

Steve took a breath, telling her everything about how he had been found, S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury, the Avengers and Hydra, although he left out the part that they had infiltrated Hydra and multiple levels of government, the Sokovian Accords, the Avengers divided, Thanos, the Infinity Stones and how they had failed to stop the Decimation until they reversed it and defeated Thanos, at a high cost though before ending up to explaining why he had come here.

"You've… lived quite a life, Steve." Peggy said, once he was done and she took a few minutes to absorb what she had heard.

"For as long as I can remember, I've been trying to do the right thing. But honestly, lately I've been asking myself a lot what the right thing is. I'm not sure anymore. Good people, good friends gave up their lives. Tony, Hunter… they made a huge sacrifice and Clint's retired, Thor may have left Earth for good… I just don't know what to do anymore. For the first time in years, I feel completely lost, just like when I woke up to find out that I was seventy years in the future." Steve said. "I mean… there's nothing… I have no duty… no mission… no purpose…"

"I think you need to get a life." Peggy pointed out as Steve smiled, remembering what Tony and Natasha often told him. "Look, Captain America was one of the greatest heroes that has ever lived. He defeated the Red Skull, won us the war but it was not Captain America I fell in love with but Steve Rogers. All those stories you've told me were about Captain America but what about Steve Rogers? Who is he? What does he want?"

Steve considered for a moment as he took a breath. "Honestly, I don't know what I want anymore."

Peggy held his chest. "Perhaps, instead of looking for the next mission, you should try to figure out, who you are outside of Captain America. Maybe it's time you stopped living as Captain America and lived as Steve Rogers again."

Steve narrowed his eyes as her words were echoing in his mind.

* * *

_ **2023, Stark Residence** _

Steve had returned to the present as Bruce, Natasha, Sam and Bucky wondered what happened to him as they saw the look in Steve's eyes like if he aged years.

"You OK?" Natasha asked as Steve explained that he was retiring.

"Are you sure about this?" Natasha asked.

"For the past eleven years, I've lived as Captain America and not Steve Rogers. I need to figure out who that man is. And I can't do that, if I have this." Steve explained. "I hope…"

"I get it." Bucky nodded. "For years I was the Winter Soldier and I've been trying to figure out who Bucky Barnes was. If anyone understands, I do of all people. And yeah… for seventy years, I fought for Hydra's cause against my own will. And I'm tired of fighting."

"Thanks." Steve nodded, shaking his hand with Bucky.

"Same here." Bucky nodded. "Jerk."

"Punk." Steve quipped as Natasha rolled her eyes at their antics.

"Try it on." Steve offered, handing it to Sam, who considered as Bucky nodded.

Sam warily picked it up, not sure if he deserved it.

"How does it feel?" Steve asked.

"Like it's someone else's." Sam admitted.

"It isn't." Steve said as Sam took a breath and exhaled.

"Thank you. I'll do my best." Sam said, wanting to honor Captain America's legacy.

"That's why it's yours." Steve shook his hand with Sam.

"See you around, Steve." Natasha said.

"Take care." Bucky smiled as they hugged Steve.

"If you need me, call me." Steve offered.

"Goodbye." Sam said before Steve walked away, intending to leave his life as Captain America behind and discover who Steve Rogers is. "What happens now?" Sam wondered, not sure if he could live up to Steve's legacy.

"Well, I think we can celebrate one more day." Bucky said, turning to Natasha, who smiled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Steve, since he is among my favorite characters in MCU and as enjoyable as Endgame was, when you think about it, his ending makes no sense.
> 
> Steve had let go of Peggy long ago and made peace with the fact that he was a man out of time, as shown in Age of Ultron and he had formed a family with the Avengers and got Bucky back and he still had his friends in the present, despite that he had lost Tony and Nat, well, here just Tony. And he leaves them all behind for Peggy, creating an alternate timeline and risking erasing her children and grandchildren from existence and potentially dooming the timeline he has created when Thanos shows up and Captain America is not there to protect them?
> 
> While it would have made sense that he would want some closure, like how Thor did it with his mother Frigga and Tony with his father Howard, retiring in the past and dooming the future is not something Steve would do. It would've made more sense to have some closure and return to the present, retire and go on a journey of soul searching and self-discovery.
> 
> While I liked that he had left the shield to Sam, I thought it would've been more fitting for Bucky, like in the comic books, for Steve to pass the shield and mantle of Captain America to him but then I realized that Bucky would most likely be tired of fighting, like T'Challa said in Avengers: Infinity War.
> 
> Once again, I would like to thank Stand with Ward and Queen for giving me permission to do what he did in his one-shot "A Captain's Farewell".
> 
> Plus, I've hinted that Bucky and Natasha would start a relationship, like in comic books.
> 
> I have highly enjoyed writing all three stories in this trilogy and this chapter concludes both this story and the trilogy The Defenders Return and I thank everyone, who has followed and favorited and left kudos to this story.
> 
> Stay tuned for another story I will write.
> 
> Please review and let me know if you have enjoyed the story to its end.
> 
> With regards
> 
> Bl4ckHunter


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